Liam Livingstone received criticism from Aakash Chopra for his shot selection and attitude during the Punjab Kings’ defeat to the Rajasthan Royals.
PBKS set a 188 run goal for RR at Dharamsala. Livingstone was dismissed while attempting a nasty hoick. Sanju Samson and company chased down the target with four wickets and two balls remaining. This eliminated PBKS from the competition.
Chopra slammed Livingstone when evaluating the game in a video posted on his YouTube channel:
“The shot Liam Livingstone played and then walked away laughing and didn’t come out to field, if an Indian batter had done that, we would have talked about his attitude. It slightly defines how your season has been.”
Aakash Chopra commented on Indian Batsmen in PBKS’s 2023 campaign:
“Shikhar Dhawan’s start was very good but after that he has gone down. Jitesh Sharma did well. Shahrukh Khan also did well. He scored runs when you gave him the chance to face more deliveries this time. He wasn’t scoring when you weren’t doing that. Once again a question is there.”
Shikhar Dhawan was bowled out for a 12 ball 17 by Adam Zampa on Friday. Jitesh Sharma scored 44 runs off 28 balls, while Shahrukh Khan hit an unbeaten 41 off 23 balls.
Aakash Chopra picks Shimron Hetmyer as MVP
Aakash Chopra chose Shimron Hetmyer as the MVP for the RR vs PBKS match. He said:
“Who is the most valuable player? I will again go with Shimron Hetmyer. I am going with everyone’s choice. I could have talked about Navdeep Saini as well – he picked up three crucial wickets, Yashasvi Jaiswal’s fifty or Jitesh Sharma’s runs.”
He shared his reason for picking him:
“There were plenty of performers but the best was Shimron Hetmyer because the run chase had become tricky in the end. Rajasthan had got stuck once again.”
The Rajasthan Royals’ chase was set in motion by Yashasvi Jaiswal (50 off 36) and Devdutt Padikkal (51 off 30). Hetmyer then slammed 4 fours and 3 sixes in his 46 run knock and Dhruv Jurel hit a six to secure victory.