Former Indian cricketer, Aakash Chopra thinks the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are missing Rajat Patidar in their middle order, and it will be their huge concern heading into the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 clash against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at their home turf in Bengaluru.
Faf du Plessis-led RCB has won one game and lost one this season so far. In the last match, they were defeated by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 81 runs.
Aakash Chopra thinks the batting issue in RCB starts after their opening pair-
“Kohli is looking in good form. He was batting well in the last match as well till that ball which turned in and beat him. Faf du Plessis is also looking in good form. Both do well on this ground but the problems start after that. Rajat Patidar’s absence is being felt,” said the Ex-Indian Test opener.
In the last match against KKR, RCB while chasing 205 runs, started with a decent opening partnership between skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli. The wickets fell at regular intervals with RCB’s skipper’s highest score of 23 runs off 12 balls. The opposition side was bowled out for 123 runs in 17.4 overs.
“You send Michael Bracewell at times at No. 3 and you want to send someone else on other occasions. An option like him (Patidar) is not available, and Maxi hasn’t fired yet. I feel the openers will do their job but a softer underbelly is being seen in the middle. The middle and lower-middle order is looking very thin on paper,” he further added.
Match ready! ?
Bring out the big guns ?#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2023 #RCBvLSG pic.twitter.com/g6hWuCKbIw
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 10, 2023
Earlier, RCB announced the replacements for the injured players including England’s Reece Topley and Madhya Pradesh’s Rajat Patidar on April 7, 2023. South Africa’s Wayne Parnell and Karnataka’s Vyshak Vijay Kumar will join the team shortly.
Patidar had hurt his Achilles heel ahead of joining the RCB training camp and despite treatment, he failed to recover from his injury.
“If Wanindu Hasaranga becomes available, he straightaway walks into the playing XI. But if he comes into the XI, what can be the changes in bowling? David Willey was outstanding in the previous game and you don’t want to change your three overseas players,” Chopra stated on RCB bowling.
While against KKR at Eden Gardens, RCB won the toss and opted to field–the home side led by Nitish Rana batted first, and opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz gave a kick start to the side with his 57 runs in 44 balls. Later Rinku Singh and Shardul Thakur scored 46 and 68 runs respectively to take their side past 200 run mark, KKR posted 204/7 in 20 overs
Whereas for their 2nd home game in IPL 2023, Faf du Plessis-led side will next face Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Bengaluru on April 10th.