“There is no star culture where people are saying, ‘Kohli will score runs’” - Aakash Chopra feels GT benefiting from absence of big names in IPL 2022

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra reckons that the Gujarat Titans (GT) have benefited from the absence of superstar players in their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL 2022) campaign. Chopra opined that the presence of big names sometimes overawes the others.

Hardik Pandya-led Gujarat became the first team to reach the IPL 2022 final when they defeated the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by seven wickets in Qualifier 1. Earlier, they also topped the league stage, winning 10 of 14 matches in their first IPL season.

GT will meet the winner of Qualifier 2, which will take place between RR and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Friday, in the IPL 2022 final.

During a Q&A session on his YouTube channel, Chopra praised Gujarat’s team culture and said:

“When there are no big names, the team environment is more amiable. There is no star culture where people are saying, ‘Kohli will score runs or ABD will score runs’. When this happens, sometimes the other players start feeling inferior. It does happen with teams that have a Chris Gayle or a Jos Buttler or KL Rahul. On the other hand, in GT, everybody is a match-winner.”

Gujarat skipper Hardik is the leading run-getter for the franchise in IPL 2022. He has scored 453 runs in 14 matches at an average of 45.30 and a strike rate of 132.84. With the ball, pacer Mohammed Shami has claimed the most wickets for the team. He has 19 scalps in 15 matches at an average of 23.94 and an economy rate of 7.98.

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“Won’t call RCB favorites to win IPL 2022” - Aakash Chopra

While GT are among the firm favorites to win the IPL trophy this year, some experts, including former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, reckon that this could be RCB’s year at the T20 league.

Admitting that they have hit a nice rhythm, Chopra opined that winning the tournament will not be an easy task for Bangalore. He stated:

“Won’t call RCB favorites to win IPL 2022. They’ll have to win tonight’s match and then one more. It's not easy to win three games in a row. If Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell do not come to the party, they won’t win. They have the momentum, but the match against RR will be a tight contest.”

RCB sneaked into the playoffs through the backdoor, finishing fourth after the Mumbai Indians (MI) knocked the Delhi Capitals (DC) out of the competition.