Delhi Capitals (DC) will be looking to break their losing streak when they face off against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Thursday, April 20th, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Aakash Chopra believes the Capitals should field three batters among their four overseas professionals to gain an advantage in this match.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra expressed the opinion that Rilee Rossouw should take Mustafizur Rahman’s place in the Delhi Capitals’ XI, citing that:
“I am expecting two changes – one is a tactical change where you send Axar Patel up the order, and the other is a simple change – play Rilee Rossouw in place of Mustafizur because this team can only do well if they go with three overseas batters.”
The former Indian opener highlighted that David Warner’s defensive tactics and Mitchell Marsh’s lack of runs had amplified the issues for the Delhi Capitals, stating:
“Anrich Nortje the only overseas bowler, and everybody else is a batter. Try to win based on that and send Axar Patel slightly up the order. Nothing is going right for Delhi. David Warner has not been hitting sixes, and Mitchell Marsh’s bat hasn’t fired thus far.”
“Prithvi Shaw is not scoring runs. Five matches have gone by, and not even one fifty has been seen. I don’t know whose form is worse – his or Deepak Hooda’s. Hooda has scored a total of 17 runs thus far, and Prithvi Shaw also hasn’t done anything special. It’s a sad story.” He further added.
Shaw has had a disappointing performance, with 34 runs at an average of 6.80 across his five performances. In contrast, Warner has achieved 228 runs at a strike rate of 116.92. Meanwhile, Marsh has only managed to accumulate four runs in three outings.
“There is enough and more. Bowling is not a problem”: Aakash Chopra
On the other side, Aakash Chopra believes bowling isn’t a concern for DC, stating:
“Your team’s bowling is absolutely fine, whether you bowl Axar, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Mukesh Kumar or Anrich Nortje. There is enough and more. Bowling is not a problem. Ishant Sharma is also sitting outside. Your problem is batting, so you will have to solve your batting.”
The Delhi Capitals could potentially substitute Khaleel Ahmed in their bowling lineup with Mustafizur Rahman, provided he has recovered from his hamstring injury. As an alternate option, the team might look to play Chetan Sakariya, a left-arm seamer.