Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has said that he didn’t understand some of Eoin Morgan’s tactical decisions as the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain have left him surprised.
His comments came as KKR set a decent 172-run target for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Sunday. They were heading towards a victory when the MS Dhoni-led side needed 26 runs off the last two overs with two new batsmen at the crease but KKR failed to restrict them.
Eoin Morgan, you should have got Narine an over prior!!!!
What have you done 🤣#IPL2021
— Vinesh Prabhu (@prabhu_vinesh94) September 26, 2021
While reviewing the KKR-CSK clash on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra jokingly said that his faltering win predictions are better than Morgan’s tactical calls as well.
“Eoin Morgan – captain, how do you do this? Even my predictions are not as bad as his strategic decisions. I have got no idea why he takes such decisions. When KKR reached 171, we all thought that it could be a winning total because you have two good spinners and decent fast bowling, you will be fine,” he said.Â
“Interestingly enough, you open with Nitish Rana at times and here when Faf and Ruturaj are playing and this is the second innings, you bring the spinner in the fourth over,” Aakash Chopra added.Â
“Why will you not go to Sunil Narine in the 19th over” – Aakash Chopra
However, the KKR seamers did not start badly as they gave away only 18 runs in the first three overs. But Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 24 runs in the next two overs bowled by Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine. And, Aakash Chopra slammed Eoin Morgan for not giving the penultimate over to Sunil Narine.
“Varun Chakravarthy comes to bowl the 18th over, gives only five runs, and dismisses Dhoni. 26 runs were left in two overs, you had one over from Narine and one over from Prasidh Krishna. Two left-handers were there, both had just come, why will you not go to Sunil Narine, honestly tell me,” he elaborated.Â
He also questioned Eoin Morgan’s tactical decisions. Chopra explained: “When you are defending, the 19th over is far more important than the 20th over, you have to go to your best bowler there. You had seen in the 18th over that spin was working, Suresh Raina also got run out in that over, so you had got a double-wicket over but you don’t make Narine bowl, it defies logic.”
Later, Ravindra Jadeja smashed Prasidh Krishna all over the ground and brought the equation down to four runs from the last over. Although Narine did well, Deepak Chahar got the required single and CSK won the game as well.
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