“There was no need to bowl a spinner” - Aakash Chopra on LSG’s biggest tactical blunder against GT

Former Indian batter Aakash Chopra feels that the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will have to get their strategy right in their IPL 2022 match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Thursday. According to him, the franchise made a blunder against the Gujarat Titans (GT) by giving an extra over to a spinner at the end when there was no need for it.

LSG went down to GT by five wickets in their opening IPL 2022 encounter. Chasing 157, Gujarat needed 68 off the last five overs. However, Deepak Hooda conceded 22 in the 16th over, and Ravi Bishnoi 17 in the next, after which the chasing side cantered to victory.

Analyzing Lucknow’s flawed tactics against Gujarat, Chopra said on his YouTube channel:

“The biggest mistake in the previous game was a simple one. I am not talking about Hooda’s over. He got an extra over, I can understand since he had taken a wicket. The issue was with giving Ravi Bishnoi the over at the end. Heading into the last four overs, they had two from (Dushmantha) Chameera and two from Avesh Khan left. There was no need to bowl a spinner. Chameera could not bowl his last over, that’s where they lost the game. It is important to get these things right.”

Chameera was LSG’s best bower with 2 for 22 but ended up bowling only three overs.

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“They are trying and stitching pieces together” – Aakash Chopra on LSG’s bowling

While discussing Lucknow’s bowling, Chopra added that the franchise have some weaknesses in the department. He elaborated:

“I feel Lucknow have an issue with the bowling. They have Avesh Khan, Dushmantha Chameera, Ravi Bishnoi. But after that they are thinking who could bowl the remaining overs. They have Krunal Pandya but, basically, they are trying and stitching pieces together, which is not an easy thing to do.”

He also opined that the captains of both IPL teams will be under the scanner. Chorpa, however, feels that KL Rahul will have a tougher task on hand. He explained:

“Captaincy has been 50-50 for LSG, but that could be the case with Chennai as well since (Ravindra) Jadeja is also a new skipper. But Jadeja has Dhoni on his side. Rahul will have to figure out on his own who needs to bowl how many overs and when.”

Rahul’s captaincy stint with Lucknow got off to the worst possible start as he was dismissed for a golden duck against the Gujarat Titans.