"You were not going to win the match" - Aakash Chopra names Evin Lewis as his Player of the Match for the LSG-CSK encounter

Aakash Chopra has picked Evin Lewis as his Player of the Match for the IPL 2022 encounter between the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Lewis scored a belligerent unbeaten 55 off just 23 deliveries to help KL Rahul's side chase down a mammoth target of 211 runs. It was also the fastest fifty to date in the ongoing edition of the IPL.

While reflecting on LSG's run chase in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra picked Lewis ahead of Ravi Bishnoi as the star performer of the match. He reasoned:

"My Player of the Match has to be Evin Lewis. You could have thought about Ravi Bishnoi as well - just 24 runs in his four overs, including a four due to a misfield, and two wickets on a pitch where everyone conceded 10 runs per over. But I am going with Evin Lewis because this was a foregone conclusion, you were not going to win the match. You won the match because Evin Lewis took 25 runs in the 19th over in which AB Baby (Ayush Badoni) also hit a six."

The cricketer-turned-commentator also praised KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock for giving the required momentum to the LSG innings. Chopra elaborated:

"The only way to chase was for the opening partnership to be very good and that happened. Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul - you keep on bowling, I will go on hitting. I thought Evin Lewis will come at No. 3 but Manish Pandey came, I was genuinely surprised."

Rahul (40 off 26) and De Kock (61 off 45) strung together a 99-run partnership for the opening wicket in a little over 10 overs.

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"Deepak Hooda played a couple of fantastic shots" - Aakash Chopra on the LSG middle order's contribution

Deepak Hooda scored 13 runs off eight deliveries [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra added that Deepak Hooda played a crucial cameo for LSG when the game seemed to be heading in CSK's favor. He said:

"Manish Pandey came and got out and the pressure was mounting. Then Quinton de Kock got out, Evin Lewis was trying but the game was slowly moving towards Chennai. Deepak Hooda came and he played a couple of fantastic shots towards the end, he was brilliant."

The 44-year-old concluded by stating that Lewis and Ayush Badoni's explosive batting in the 19th over bowled by Shivam Dube sealed the match for LSG. Chopra observed:

"When he gets out AB Baby comes. Shivam Dube is given the 19th over because Bravo and Pretorius' overs were finished. Tushar Deshpande and left-armer Choudhary had proved expensive. First AB Baby hits a six and then Evin Lewis - two fours and a six, 25 runs in the over - game, set and match."

Aakash Chopra also opined that Manish Pandey is likely to be dropped once Jason Holder and Marcus Stoinis are available for LSG. The Karnataka veteran has managed just 11 runs in his two innings thus far and has looked slightly out of sorts.

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