IPL 2020: 'How is it possible that KKR finished Cummins' quota by the 11th over with Narine not having bowled at all?' - Aakash Chopra

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has questioned the strange tactics adopted by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in yesterday's IPL 2020 encounter against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

He mentioned that he was particularly unconvinced about the usage of Sunil Narine, both with the bat and the ball, while reviewing the clash between the two teams in a video shared on his YouTube channel.

While lauding KKR for sending Rahul Tripathi to bat at the top of the order, Aakash Chopra pointed out that some of the other tactics employed by them were puzzling.

"KKR adopted some strange tactics. It was a great decision to open the batting with Rahul Tripathi. He plays well as an opener and played a brilliant knock. Shubman Gill got out early, it is absolutely fine as you can't score runs every day. Nitish Rana also got out, so it felt that CSK had staged a mini-comeback."

He reasoned that there was no merit in sending Sunil Narine at the No. 4 spot when KKR got off to a good start, and stated that Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik would have been better choices.

"And then comes Sunil Narine when KKR has got a decent start and are not really struggling. Why did Narine come? He might have made 17 runs off 9 balls but if these nine deliveries were given to Morgan or Dinesh Karthik, the story might have been different."

The former KKR player added although the Trinidadian might have scored a few quick runs, he was not convinced with the decision.

"I was not convinced. The end might justify the means but I was not convinced."

Narine before Morgan???

— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) October 7, 2020

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Aakash Chopra on KKR's strange handling of bowlers

Pat Cummins was bowled out by the 11th over by KKR

While talking about the KKR bowling effort, Aakash Chopra criticised the decision to bowl only Pat Cummins and Shivam Mavi in the powerplay. The pace duo didn't have much success against CSK, and Shane Watson is known to struggle against Sunil Narine.

"And then when you come to bowl, in the first 6 overs three each are bowled by two medium pacers in which you do not get a wicket. When does this happen that you do like this, that you do not make a change, don't get spin when Sunil Narine has an outstanding record against Shane Watson."

The reputed commentator even questioned the KKR captain's decision to finish Cummins quota of overs by the 11th over itself, with Narine having not been introduced into the attack by then.

"How is it possible that KKR finished Cummins' quota by the 11th over with Narine not having bowled at all? Because you had almost lost the match by then, it felt like that."

Respectfully disagree. To finish off Cummins by 11th and not try one over of Russell in the powerplay when he did not finish and they needed a wicket?

— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) October 8, 2020

He pointed out that the CSK batsmen lost wickets only after Sunil Narine was introduced into the attack.

"And there you get Sunil Narine, first Ambati Rayudu makes a mistake and then Sunil Narine vs Shane Watson where Watson gets dismissed. Dhoni is trying to play well but he also gets out in trying to hit Varun Chakravarthy. Andre Russell comes in the end and you win the match."

Aakash Chopra signed off by stating that KKR were perhaps a bit fortunate to walk away with a win, although the franchise may feel that it was a stroke of genius.

The IPL 2020 purple cap list has been updated, check here.

"But if you see at the end, I feel KKR has actually dodged a bullet because their tactics were strange although they may look back and say that they were genius tactics."

Sunil Narine, who has not had a great IPL season so far, spun a web around the CSK batsmen after he was introduced into the attack by KKR in the 12th over. He, along with Varun Chakravarthy, applied the brakes on the CSK scoring rate and the MS Dhoni-led team eventually fell short of their target by 10 runs.