"Whatever you keep on saying, KKR's batting problems are there" - Aakash Chopra on Shreyas Iyer's side's top-order issues in IPL 2022

Aakash Chopra has highlighted Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) top-order batting issues despite their emphatic win against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Saturday's (May 14) IPL 2022 clash.

Shreyas Iyer's team posted a formidable 177/6 after they were reduced to 94/5. Their bowlers then delivered the goods, restricting SRH to 123/8.

While reviewing Saturday's game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra pinpointed KKR's batting issues. He elaborated:

"Whatever you keep on saying, KKR's batting problems are there and it is not one or two but many. Venkatesh gets out at the start and then Ajinkya Rahane also gets out after some time. Nitish Rana was batting very well, was hitting sixes and then he also gets out."

The former KKR player highlighted the travails of the likes of Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana against short-pitched bowling. Chopra explained:

"Shreyas Iyer also gets out and against whom do all these batters get out. Umran Malik comes and takes wicket after wicket. He scares and threatens them a little, bowls some bouncers, he is back to wicket-taking ways. Nitish Rana, Shreyas Iyer - the bouncer is playing on their mind, it seems like that."

Rana, who scored 26 runs off 16 balls, pulled a short delivery from Umran Malik straight to Shashank Singh at deep square leg. Meanwhile, Iyer, who was anticipating a short ball, flicked a pitched-up delivery from the express pacer to Rahul Tripathi at deep mid-wicket after scoring just 15 runs.

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"Sam Billings batted extremely well" - Aakash Chopra on positives in KKR batting

Sam Billings and Andre Russell strung together a 63-run partnership [P/C: iplt20.com]

On a positive note, while picking Andre Russell's all-round effort as a game-defining performance, Aakash Chopra praised Sam Billings for playing a crucial knock. The renowned commenter observed:

"When Rinku got out, they were 94/5 and reaching 177 seemed almost impossible. But Sam Billings batted extremely well. He hit a six straight down the ground and some good shots against Umran, pace does not bother him. Of course, Andre Russell was the second player. I thought 177 was a huge total in the context of the game."

Chopra also pointed out that KKR's convincing win against SRH has kept alive their hopes of qualifying for the playoffs. The former India international said:

"A 54-run win means that Kolkata abhi to hai taiyaar, they can reach 14 points, their last match is against LSG but they will reach 14 points with a positive net run rate if they win the next encounter. At least the campaign is alive, where they will go, we don't know."

With Saturday's win, the Knight Riders jumped to sixth spot in the points table, with 12 points. They'll have to necessarily win their last league game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on May 18 and hope that other results go their way to qualify for the playoffs.