“2 of their retained players have already been dropped” - Aakash Chopra on KKR’s team combination going awry in IPL 2022

Aakash Chopra feels that the Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) team combination has gone for a complete toss in IPL 2022. Illustrating his views, the former Indian batter pointed out that Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy, two of their retained players, got dropped from the playing XI before Kolkata completed 10 matches this season.

Despite being unsettled, KKR managed to defeat the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by seven wickets in their previous match, ending their five-game losing streak. They will face the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the second game of the double-header on Saturday (7 May) at the MCA Stadium in Pune.

Previewing the match on his YouTube channel, Chopra criticized Kolkata’s tactics of constantly chopping and changing their side. He elaborated:

“There are very few players from the KKR squad who haven’t got a chance. They started with Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer as openers, and then Aaron Finch came in. Sunil Naine also opened. They are now trying Baba Indrajith as well. Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy, two of their retained players, have already been dropped. The franchise has just completed playing 10 games.”

Iyer and Chakravarthy, two of Kolkata’s star performers last season, have been in torrid form this year. The former has scored a mere 132 runs in nine matches at an average of 16.50 while the latter has claimed four wickets in eight matches at an average of 61.75.

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“They will have to drop Finch to accommodate Cummins” - Chopra analyzes KKR’s selection conundrum

Analyzing Kolkata’s team combination further, Chopra wondered whether Kolkata would drop Aaron Finch to accommodate Pat Cummins. Since Tim Southee came into the playing XI, he has brought better balance to the side.

With Sunil Narine and Andre Russell doing well, Cummins can possibly only replace Australia’s limited-overs captain as an overseas player. Chopra commented:

“They might look to bring in Cummins, but instead of whom that’s the million-dollar question. Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Tim Southee will play. They will have to drop Aaron Finch to accommodate Pat Cummins. It will be interesting. Cannot predict Kolkata’s thinking.”

Concluding his thoughts, he urged KKR to reconsider Venkatesh Iyer as an opening option and added:

“Should they stick to Indrajith and Finch as openers? They might not change the combination since they won the last game. But I feel they should go back to Venkatesh Iyer and Sam Billings can return as keeper. For me, that’s a better combination.”

After restricting Rajasthan to 152 for five in their previous match, Kolkata chased down the target with seven wickets in hand as Nitish Rana remained unbeaten on 48 and Rinku Singh on 42.

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