"I was a little surprised" - Aakash Chopra on the Chennai Super Kings not making a change in their playing XI

Aakash Chopra expressed slight surprise at the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) not changing their IPL team composition for last night's IPL 2022 encounter against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

CSK, who came up short in their first four games of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League, opted to stick with the same XI they had fielded in their last match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The tactics paid dividends as they defeated RCB by 23 runs to register their first win of the tournament.

While reviewing the CSK-RCB encounter in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra was slightly bewildered by the Super Kings sticking with their last match's combination. He said:

"Chennai did not make any change. I was a little surprised, I had thought they will make some changes because they are not able to win, they had lost four consecutive matches. They didn't change the team but the way they play."

Reflecting on the Chennai Super Kings' batting performance, the cricketer-turned-commentator pointed out that they had gotten off to a pedestrian start. Chopra explained:

"They did not get off to a good start, it was actually very slow, Chennai were crawling at the start. Ruturaj Gaikwad got out playing a bad shot, he didn't have another good knock. Robin Uthappa was there with him, his start was also slow."

Ruturaj Gaikwad tried to pull a Josh Hazlewood delivery which was not short enough and was given out leg-before. Last season's IPL Orange Cap winner has managed only 35 runs in his five knocks in IPL 2022 thus far.

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"Everyone felt this is it" - Aakash Chopra on the Chennai Super Kings scoring just 60 runs in the first 10 overs

Robin Uthappa strung together a match-winning partnership with Shivam Dube [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra highlighted that the Chennai Super Kings almost seemed down and out after the first half of their innings. He observed:

"After that, Moeen Ali comes and he gets run out. Everyone felt this is it. Only 60 runs were scored off the first 10 overs. Robin Uthappa and Shivam Dube were taking their time and trying to remain in the match."

The 44-year-old lauded Shivam Dube and Robin Uthappa for taking the Chennai Super Kings to a massive score. Chopra elaborated:

"And here there was a change in the game. All the bowlers were dismissed - whether it was Shivam Dube or Robin Uthappa. Uthappa told that he still has cricket left in him and that he is a special player. Robbie was brilliant and Shivam Dube did an amazing job. CSK reached 216 for the loss of four wickets."

Aakash Chopra concluded by pointing out that RCB missed Harshal Patel a lot. He reckons CSK would not have scored 156 runs in the last 10 overs if the wily pacer had been present in the RCB attack.