"He was kept in slight cold storage" - Aakash Chopra lauds Kuldeep Sen's match-winning spell in RR's IPL 2022 win against RCB

Aakash Chopra has picked Kuldeep Sen as his Player of the Match for last night's IPL 2022 encounter between the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

Sanju Samson's side, after being asked to bat first, set a 145-run target for RCB at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. Sen returned figures of 4/20 as RR bowled out RCB for 115 to win the match by 29 runs.

While picking Kuldeep Sen as the standout performer of the match in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra pointed out that the Madhya Pradesh speedster was out of favor for the last few matches. He observed:

"My Player of the Match is Kuldeep Sen. What a guy he is, he was not getting chances for some time. You saw Obed McCoy playing, you saw different-different combinations but he was kept in slight cold storage although he had done well earlier. He had won the match while bowling the last over on his debut."

The former India cricketer highlighted that Kuldeep Sen's dismissals of Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell off consecutive deliveries almost sealed the match in RR's favor. Chopra explained:

"After that, he was hit in one or two matches and was shown the door. Now he has come back and picked up four wickets. He was on a hat-trick. What is left if you dismiss Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell? Kohli had already gotten out off Prasidh's bowling."

Aakash Chopra also pinpointed the below-par performances of their top order as a huge concern for RCB. He elaborated:

"After that, the same story. Shahbaz will come and after that Karthik will come. Things are not working out. The top three or four of RCB are like - Tu chal main aayi (You go and I will follow). We are getting a feeling like that when we see them, they are getting dismissed so quickly. So, there are plenty of problems."

RCB dropped Anuj Rawat and moved Virat Kohli to the top of the order for last night's encounter. However, the move did not yield the desired results as the former RCB skipper looked out of sorts, while the rest of their batters were also found wanting.

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"Riyan Parag was a very big candidate but I am still going with Kuldeep Sen" - Aakash Chopra

Riyan Parag's half-century helped Rajasthan Royals post a fighting total [P/C: iplt20.com]

While acknowledging that Riyan Parag could have also been picked by him as his Player of the Match, Aakash Chopra explained why he opted to go with Sen. He reasoned:

"Although Riyan Parag was a very big candidate but I am still going with Kuldeep Sen because those four wickets were amazing to defend 144 runs. You don't want to chase against two teams - one is Gujarat Titans and the other is Rajasthan Royals."

Along with Kuldeep Sen, all the other Rajasthan Royals bowlers played their parts to perfection. Ravichandran Ashwin (3/17) and Prasidh Krishna (2/23) were the other RR bowlers amongst the wickets.