Aakash Chopra suggests one major change in KKR batting order after their loss to SRH in IPL 2023

Sunrisers Hyderabad finally broke Kolkata Knight Riders’ winning streak after defeating them by 23 runs at the Eden Gardens on Saturday to register their second consecutive victory. KKR got their second defeat of the season after winning consecutively against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Titans. The home team was chasing a big total of 229 runs against SRH in match number 19 of IPL 2023 and were restricted at 204 for the loss of 7 wickets.

KKR didn’t have a great start while chasing the target and lost 5 wickets for 96 runs on 10.1 overs. After that, skipper Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh kept the hopes alive for KKR by adding 69 runs for the sixth wicket. Rana got out after scoring 75 runs off 41 balls, while Rinku continued his great form and went on to score his maiden IPL half-century and remained unbeaten on 58 runs off 31 balls. However, it wasn’t enough for KKR to chase a big total as they fell short of 23 runs.

Rinku Singh has been making headlines for the past few days for his heroics against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium where he hit five back-to-back sixes in the last over when 28 runs were needed off the last six balls. The 25-year-old won the match for KKR from the jaws of defeat. Rinku was also looking in good touch in a match against SRH coming at number 7. It looked like he could have won the match for KKR if he came to bat up in the order.

‘Rinku can be sent up the order’ – Aakash Chopra

Former cricketer Aakash Chopra reckons that KKR should have sent Rinku up in the batting order against SRH. Chopra praised Rana and Rinku’s batting and added that he should have to bat ahead of Sunil Narine and Andre Russell.

“Nitish Rana played very well and Rinku Singh batted beautifully once again. But Rinku can be sent up the order. You promoted Sunil Narine here and also sent Andre Russell ahead of him,” Chopra said on his Youtube Channel.

“You sent Rinku ahead of Andre in Ahmedabad. There we were asking if Andre shouldn’t have been sent, but after what Rinku did in Ahmedabad, we were asking whether Rinku shouldn’t have come earlier,” the former cricketer further added.