Aakash Chopra the crickeÂt pundit is placing his faith in Ravichandran Ashwin the spinner for Rajasthan Royals to deliveÂr an exceptional performance in the upcoming IPL 2024 Qualifier 2 match. He foreÂsees Ashwins standout display on his home turf as Rajasthan Royals take on SunRisers Hyderabad at Chepauk in CheÂnnai this Friday.
Rajasthan Royals enteÂr the match following a commanding fourwicket win against Royal ChallengeÂrs Bengaluru in the Eliminator at Ahmedabad on WeÂdnesday May 22. Conversely SunriseÂrs Hyderabad endured a heÂavy eightwicket defeÂat at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders at the same venue the day beÂfore.
In a YouTube video, Aakash Chopra identified Ashwin as the Rajasthan Royals spinner to keep an eye on in Friday’s match.
“Win the toss and bowl first. Whoever bowls first, the scales will be tilted towards them, and there will be slight help for their spinners as well, and no one has taken more wickets than Ravichandran Ashwin at Chepauk. Ravichandran Ashwin will be at home totally. If it’s a slightly turning pitch, Rajasthan’s eight overs of spin could dominate the game.”
“Although he will also have (Yuzvendra) Chahal and Trent Boult with the new ball with him, and I feel Sandeep (Sharma) will also have a big role here, I am still focusing on Ravichandran Ashwin because he is bowling well, taking wickets, and might get a chance to score runs if he is promoted while batting first.”
Aakash Chopra
In 13 innings of the IPL 2024, Ashwin has nine wickets at an economy rate of 8.31. Seven of his wickets have come in the previous four innings, with a best performance of 3/24 against the Delhi Capitals in Delhi on May 7.
Aakash Chopra’s Radar on Sanju Samson for Rajasthan Royals’ Batting Prowess
Aakash Chopra chose Sanju Samson above Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tom Kolher-Cadmore as the first Rajasthan Royals batter to focus on against the SunRisers Hyderabad.
“Yashasvi, although he has played comparatively better while chasing and scored a hundred against Mumbai, hasn’t looked that confident. The feet movement hasn’t been as good as I and he would have liked. The dominance and surety with which he was batting against England, he hasn’t batted like that here.”
“So my first focus will not be on the two openers – Tom Kolher-Cadmore and Yashasvi. My focus will be Sanju Samson. He has played spin well this year otherwise, got out only once, that was against Karn Sharma in the last match. Whether they get to bat first or second, Sanju Samson must score runs. He has scored a lot of runs against this team although he got out for zero last time.”
Aakash Chopra
Chopra identified Riyan Parag as the other RR batsman to watch out for in Qualifier 2.
“The second player is Riyan Parag, although you have the cushion of Shimron Heymyer and Rovman Powell now. Riyan Parag has had a good season. He is a mighty player and you can again focus on him on this pitch. He has been very good and played well in the last match, and if he plays well in this match as well, the scales get tilted more towards Rajasthan Royals.”
Aakash Chopra
Riyan Parag is the Royals’ leading run-scorer in IPL 2024, with 567 runs at 151.60 strike rate in 13 innings. Samson (521) is the only other RR player to have scored over 400 runs this season.