IPL 2022: "He doesn't want to play left-arm seamers at all" - Piyush Chawla slams Aaron Finch, asks KKR to go back to Rahane

Piyush Chawla has criticized Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) opener Aaron Finch for running away from facing left-arm seamers in IPL 2022. He also slammed his former IPL team for not showing trust in one opening combination, asking them to play Ajinkya Rahane instead of the Australian against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Monday.

After opening with Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer in the first five games, the Knight Riders dropped the former and brought in Finch. Iyer was shifted to the lower order in the next game, with Sunil Narine opening. The Australian white-ball captain didn't play the following match due to an injury as Sam Billings opened with Narine. Both Venkatesh and Finch were then restored at the top in the last match.

Amid such frequent changes at the top of the order, the Knight Riders lost four games and stumbled from the top of the IPL 2022 points table to the bottom three. Finch scored seven off five balls, a brilliant 58 (28) and three off seven deliveries. In the two games he didn't cross double digits, the right-hander looked like a sitting duck against any kind of swing movement upfront.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo on Sunday, Chawla said the Knight Riders need to stick to one opening pair. He pointed to how the Aussie opener has hurried to the other end against left-arm seamers, saying he should be dropped before the Royals' pacers also exploit his weakness against incoming deliveries. He said:

"They are not showing trust in their openers. They started with Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer and so many players have been changed since then. They need to show some consistency with one pair. My personal opinion on Aaron Finch is he did get runs in one match but even then when he saw left-arm seamers, he was running after defending to the fielders' hands. It feels like he doesn't want to play left-arm seamers at all, just wants to get to the other end. Here there's Trent Boult and Prasidh also brings the ball in nicely. So I can't say that he's a good option and they shall go back to their original openers."

Although Rahane looked more assured at the crease in those five games, he too has had his issues against the new ball. This showed in his failure to cross 15 runs after scoring 44 (34) in the campaign opener.

Chawla also advised the two-time champions to promote Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh to take on the Royals' spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal. He explained:

"Yes, their (Royals') spin attack is good and Shreyas Iyer struggles against wrist spin but the other batters like Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana play spin really well. So you'd want them to get more balls to play. You can't leave them too down the order like in the last game where Nitish Rana came in at No. 6 and Rinku Singh at No. 7. You can't play your main batters who are looking in a good rhythm that down the order. The opposition spinners are good and these guys play spin well. That will be a good fight and they can steer the game from there."

After a slow start to the season, Rana has seemingly gained some form back with two half-centuries in the last four matches. Rinku has played just two games but looked better than most of his teammates, with scores of 35 (28) and 23 (16).

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"I feel they'll continue with Aaron Finch" - Piyush Chawla

Asked to pick the Knight Riders' probable four overseas players, Chawla chose Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, and Finch, saying the Aussie, despite looking short on confidence, is likely to get the management's backing a bit longer.

He remarked:

"See these three - Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Tim Southee - should definitely play. There's a bit of confusion on the fourth - should Aaron Finch play? But he doesn't look too confident. It's a very confusing choice because Sam Billings hasn't done well either. But I feel they'll continue with Aaron Finch because he played one good innings and has played just one game after that."

Monday's clash will be played at the Wankhede Stadium, starting at 7:30 pm IST.