Former India batter Aakash Chopra has picked LSG’s ‘senseless’ decision-making as one of the factors responsible for their poor run in IPL 2026 as well. He cited the LSG’s decision to send Nicholas Pooran in the Super Over against Sunil Narine as an example, adding that everyone knows he is unable to hit his countryman.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Some decision-making, in which the Nicholas Pooran decision did not make sense. You sent him in the Super Over, and Narine was in front of him. The entire world knows he is unable to hit, but you sent him. Justin Langer came later and tried to justify it, but it didn’t make a lot of sense.”
“The inconsistency in terms of your batting order. Only one batter played all 13 games at the same spot, and surprise, surprise, he is also the highest run-scorer for them. That’s Mitchell Marsh. Opening didn’t used to be this team’s problem, but even opening became a problem in the middle because they moved Aiden Markram down the order, and they made Ayush Badoni and Arshin Kulkarni open, and then they made Josh Inglis open,” he shared.
“They made so many changes that it seemed like it was a game of musical chairs. Everyone was moved up and down in the batting order. Nicholas Pooran started down the order, and then he was sent at No. 3. He scored a fifty at No. 3, but his season was extremely ordinary,” Chopra observed. “Mitchell Marsh is at No. 1 and Rishabh Pant is at No. 2 for sure, but there is a difference of 250 runs between the top two run-scorers. Obviously, Rishabh’s season was also ordinary. They should have shown slightly more faith in Mukul Choudhary and Ayush Badoni shouldn’t have been moved from the middle order,” he again shared.
However, Aakash Chopra also stated that LSG lacked a wicket-taking spinner in IPL 2026.
“There was no wicket-taker in spin. It was an absolutely cold spin department – Digvesh Rathi and Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga didn’t come, and M Siddharth played an odd match. They don’t have anyone in the spin department. Eventually, it comes back to bite you,” he said.
“They didn’t make their home a fortress. Since Gujarat has a good pace battery, they started making a green pitch on red soil. They found a formula for success, but they (Lucknow) have still not been able to make Ekana their home. Not doing well at the Ekana is a major problem,” Chopra concluded.
Get the latest cricket news here, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more such updates.