"I hope someone placed an arm on his shoulder and said 'sorry'" - Aakash Chopra on Delhi Capitals' batting order against KKR

Aakash Chopra has questioned the Delhi Capitals' (DC) decision to demote an in-form Sarfaraz Khan in the batting order in their Sunday afternoon IPL 2022 encounter against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) according to the IPL 2022 schedule.

Khan, who scored an unbeaten 36 in the Capitals' last match against the Lucknow Super Giants, did not get to bat against KKR. However, the other DC batters did their job by posting a massive 215/5 on the board.

While reflecting on the Delhi Capitals' batting performance in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra was flummoxed by the franchise's call not to use Khan's services with the bat. He said:

"There was a question in my mind. Where is Sarfaraz? Why did you play the kid? He batted well in the last match and they kept on demoting him. He was sitting wearing the pads and they didn't send him to bat. I hope someone placed an arm on his shoulder and said 'sorry'."

However, the former India cricketer did acknowledge that the rest of the Delhi Capitals batters did the needful. Chopra elaborated:

"Prithvi Shaw and David Warner were absolutely sensational to begin with. Kolkata were seen rubbing their hands and the two of them were seen frying the bowlers. It was a fantastic opening partnership. Pant also came and opened his arms. In the end, Axar was also there with Shardul."

Aakash Chopra pointed out that the Delhi Capitals batters were particularly harsh on Pat Cummins. He observed:

"Sunil Narine was very good, he bowled well. Varun Chakravarthy was alright, he also bowled well. Umesh Yadav should have got more than one wicket but his performance was also alright. Cummins got hit a lot, he has scored an individual century in two matches."

Sunil Narine, who returned figures of 2/21, was KKR's star performer with the ball. While Cummins went wicketless and conceded 51 runs in his four-over spell, Umesh Yadav was also taken to the cleaners in his final over.

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"Khaleel Ahmed was absolutely outstanding" - Aakash Chopra on the Delhi Capitals' bowling performance

Khaleel Ahmed snared three wickets in his four-over spell [P/C: iplt20.com]

While naming Kuldeep Yadav as the star performer of the encounter, Aakash Chopra also had a word of praise for Khaleel Ahmed. He stated:

"Khaleel Ahmed was absolutely outstanding, I think he was brilliant, just like Arshdeep in the last match on this ground. Kuldeep Yadav was once again exceptional. Pant's bat has still not fired but still, the team's performance has been good because it was the sum of all parts."

Ahmed replaced Anrich Nortje in the Delhi Capitals playing XI. The left-arm seamer gave early breakthroughs by dismissing Venkatesh Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane and finished with figures of 3/25 in his four overs.