"How can it happen that Mahipal Lomror is your 6th bowling option?" - Aakash Chopra on RCB's IPL 2024 loss to SRH

Aakash Chopra has questioned the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for playing only five frontline bowlers in their IPL 2024 loss to the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).

SRH posted a mammoth 287/3 after being asked to bat first in Bengaluru on Monday, April 15. Pat Cummins and company then restricted the hosts to 262/7 to register a 25-run win and hand the three-time IPL finalists their sixth defeat in seven games.

Reviewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra criticized RCB for fielding a thin bowling lineup despite the Impact Player rule.

"You decided to field as soon as you won the toss, and you thought that it was great as you would bat second and the runs would be chased. One thing came to my mind - very few teams have only five bowling options even though the Impact Player rule is available," he said (1:40).

"Those five were Will Jacks, Yash Dayal, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Reece Topley and Lockie Ferguson. Does it not look weak? How can it happen that Mahipal Lomror is your sixth bowling option? Why didn't you have one more bowling option, just think about it, you should have an answer for that," the former India opener added.

All the RCB bowlers had an economy rate of more than 10 runs per over. Mahipal Lomror gave away 18 runs in the only over he bowled, with Reece Topley and Vijaykumar Vyshak conceding 17 and 16 runs per over, respectively.

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"Good balls were going for fours and bad balls were going for sixes" - Aakash Chopra on Virat Kohli's knock during RCB's chase

Virat Kohli scored 42 runs off 20 deliveries. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Reflecting on RCB's chase, Aakash Chopra praised Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis (62 off 28) for giving them a flying start.

"287 is not chased logically but the hitting started here as well. Virat Kohli started it - good balls were going for fours and bad balls were going for sixes. However, he got out to Mayank Markande. After that, Faf du Plessis was continuously hitting. He also hit sixes," he stated (4:55).

The reputed commentator lauded Dinesh Karthik for playing a swashbuckling knock studded with unconventional shots.

"Will Jacks was unlucky, got run out at the non-striker's end. Rajat Patidar got out. (Mahipal) Lomror came and hit a little, and then came Dinesh Karthik. He is doing things differently. The shots he played were not cricket ones. He stands like Guran from Lagaan and then plays shots on both sides," he explained.

"I thought he might become the first batter batting at No. 6 or below to score a T20 century. A century wasn't scored but DK won hearts. The difference between a win and a loss was only 25 runs in the end," Chopra added.

Karthik smoked 83 runs off just 35 deliveries with the help of five fours and seven sixes. Mahipal Lomror (19 off 11) and Anuj Rawat (25* off 14) played the supporting roles but the 288-run target was a bridge too far.