"Did you pick a player for 8 crores to make him bat at No. 8?" - Aakash Chopra says Sunrisers Hyderabad need to bat Washington Sundar up the order

Aakash Chopra believes the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) need to utilize Washington Sundar's services with the bat more effectively.

SRH bought Sundar for a whopping ₹8.75 crores for his all-round skills at the IPL 2022 Auction. However, he was only sent in to bat at the No. 8 spot in last night's encounter against the Rajasthan Royals (RR), when the game was almost beyond the IPL 2016 champions' reach.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra reflected on the SRH run chase. He had the following to say about Sundar's batting position:

"The fact is Sunrisers Hyderabad were down in the dumps. Aiden Markram showed a semblance of a fight, took them to slight respectability. But Washington Sundar, how well he batted. You see very big names in the dugout but not Indian names. Did you pick a player for 8 crores to make him bat at No. 8? He is much better than that."

The former India cricketer reckons Sundar needs to bat ahead of the likes of Abhishek Sharma and Nicholas Pooran. Chopra observed:

"In my opinion, make Washington Sundar bat up the order, you can send Abhishek Sharma down the order. You have a lot of confidence in Nicholas Pooran but Washington Sundar will bat better than him."

Sundar smoked 40 runs off just 14 deliveries. However, the knock came too late in the day for Sunrisers Hyderabad as they lost the match by a massive margin of 61 runs.

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"What are you doing, guys?" - Aakash Chopra on the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling

Jos Buttler was dismissed off a Bhuvneshwar Kumar no-ball [P/C: iplt20.com]

Speaking about the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling, Aakash Chopra was critical of the number of no-balls they delivered. He elaborated:

"How many no-balls did you bowl? Catches are being taken off no-balls. I mean, what are you doing, guys? You played a lot of bowling for sure but there is a lot of quantity, is there enough quality, I am not a 100% certain."

The reputed commentator also questioned Romario Shepherd's selection ahead of Marco Jansen. Chopra explained:

"Umran bowled very fast but proved extremely expensive. You played Romario Shepherd and didn't look towards Marco Jansen. I thought that was a 50-50 decision because you didn't keep his overs for the death, you went towards Bhuvi and T Natarajan. Then why Romario Shepherd and why not Marco Jansen?"

Shepherd wasn't too expensive as he conceded 33 runs in his four overs while also picking up Yashasvi Jaiswal's wicket. The Guyanese all-rounder conceded just five runs in his first over but was inexplicably taken out of the attack by Kane Williamson.