"Your season should not be this bad because of one player getting injured" - Aakash Chopra on CSK's underwhelming IPL 2022 campaign

Aakash Chopra has pointed out that Deepak Chahar's injury-enforced absence cannot be an excuse for the Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) indifferent run in IPL 2022.

Chahar, who was the defending champions' big-ticket buy at the IPL 2022 Auction, was ruled out of the tournament due to multiple injury issues. CSK ended the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League with just eight points, their worst performance in the history of the tournament.

While reflecting on CSK's loss to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra highlighted the four-time champions' poor returns in IPL 2022, saying:

"Chennai, they have got plenty to think because you do not have such a bad season. You are at No. 9 at this point, that's definitely not a good story, not enough wins, no momentum whatsoever. Deepak Chahar was the only player who got injured and was not available but your season should not be this bad because of one player getting injured."

The Chennai Super Kings are only above the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL 2022 points table. Rohit Sharma's side can however join them on eight points if they win Saturday's encounter against the Delhi Capitals (DC) but are unlikely to surpass them on net run rate.

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"You got to see T10, ODI and Test cricket in one match" - Aakash Chopra on CSK's batting effort vs RR

Moeen Ali gave a flying start to the Chennai Super Kings' innings [P/C: iplt20.com]

Speaking about CSK's batting effort in Friday's game, Aakash Chopra pointed out the topsy-turvy nature of their innings. He observed:

"It was an interesting encounter because you got to see T10, ODI and Test cricket in one match. They ran in T10 fashion in the first six overs. Who hits so much in the powerplay but Moeen Ali did that."

The former India batter was unsure if Devon Conway should have been given out by the on-field umpire. Chopra explained:

"After that wickets fall, Devon Conway gets out, it was a 50-50 decision for me because the ball was just touching the stumps, when it touches so slightly, the zing bails don't fall these days."

Chopra concluded by observing that CSK fell short of a par score due to a flurry of wickets in the middle overs. He elaborated:

"After that Jagadeesan and Ambati Rayudu got out early, someone pulled a chain and the Chennai Express halted suddenly. You saw Test cricket after that for a long time and ODI in between. Dhoni - 26 runs in 28 balls, the total runs were not as per the match situation's demand, they were at least 15-20 runs short."

CSK ended up posting a score of 150/6 in their allotted 20 overs. It didn't prove enough in the end as RR won the match by five wickets with two deliveries to spare.

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