"The wagon kept on derailing" - Aakash Chopra on Rajasthan Royals' batting collapse in IPL 2023 loss to Lucknow Super Giants

Aakash Chopra has pointed out that the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) took advantage of a Rajasthan Royals (RR) batting collapse to register a win in their IPL 2023 clash in Jaipur on Wednesday, April 19.

KL Rahul and Co. set a 155-run target for the Royals after being asked to bat first on a slightly sluggish surface. Their bowlers then restricted the home team to 144/6 to complete a 10-run win and consolidate their second position in the IPL 2023 points table.

While reviewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra pointed out that the Rajasthan Royals frittered away an excellent start during their run chase, elaborating:

"Rajasthan had an opening partnership of 87. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler were playing very well. Then a wicket fell and after that, they kept on falling. Sanju Samson got run out as well and the wagon kept on derailing."

The former Indian opener questioned Sanju Samson and Co. for sending Riyan Parag ahead of an in-form Dhruv Jurel, explaining:

"Riyan Parag and Devdutt Padikkal come but Dhruv Jurel doesn't come. He came very late, got to bat only in the last over, although he should have come much earlier considering the form he has. Shimron Hetmyer too did not fire this time and in the end, Avesh Khan saved the runs in the last over."

Parag scored an unbeaten 15 off 12 balls when the asking rate was more than 10 in the last five overs. Jurel came to the crease when RR required 14 runs off the last three balls and was brilliantly caught by Deepak Hooda at long-on while trying to hit Avesh Khan for a maximum off the first ball he faced.

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"The start was extremely slow" - Aakash Chopra on the Lucknow Super Giants' opening partnership

Kyle Mayers top-scored for the Lucknow Super Giants with a 42-ball 51. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Speaking about the Lucknow Super Giants innings, Aakash Chopra pointed out that KL Rahul and Kyle Mayers got them off to a pedestrian start, elaborating:

"The start was extremely slow. The ball was not coming onto the bat for both KL Rahul and Kyle Mayers. Both were struggling although you generally don't see Kyle Mayers struggle. They had an 82-run partnership, Kyle Mayers scored a half-century as well, but both had almost identical strike rates."

While praising Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis for pressing the accelerator pedal towards the end, the cricketer-turned-commentator felt the Lucknow Super Giants should have posted a bigger total, saying:

"Could they have posted a better score from there - 100 percent. When you score 80-odd runs in the first 10 overs, 170-175 should have been scored. This team stopped at 154, although Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis played well. The batting order was slightly topsy-turvy and Deepak Hooda hasn't scored runs at all."

The Lucknow Super Giants were comfortably placed at 79 for no loss after 10 overs. However, they lost a flurry of wickets thereafter before Pooran (29 off 20) and Stoinis (21 off 16) took them to a fighting total which proved enough in the end.