Aakash Chopra, a former Indian cricket team batter, was dissatisfied with how Punjab Kings approached the chase and even criticized how the team used in-form batter Shashank Singh during their loss to Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2024.
Chasing 193, PBKS lost four wickets early on, but an explosive knock from Ashutosh Sharma helped them come close before falling short by nine runs.
Shashank Singh has been the franchise’s most successful batter in this year’s IPL, and Chopra believes that not playing him in the top order and instead treating him as a finisher will be a major issue for the team.
“When your team is 14/4, it appears that you cannot win the match because you are too far behind and your four main players’ innings have ended. Shashank appears in such a situation, and Jitesh (Sharma) is with him.”
“I’d like to say something about Shashank. How did you decide that he is only your finisher and that, despite his good batting, you will not send him up the order? What’s the point? Someone who bats well and has the temperament is more than just a finisher. “He is an experienced red-ball cricket player,” he stated on his YouTube channel.
Stand-in skipper San Curran praised Shashank and Ashutosh’s performances, noting that losing such close matches in the IPL can be disheartening at times.
“Another close one, which I believe this team enjoys, but unfortunately another loss. Another incredible knock from the young guy (on Ashutosh), but another narrow defeat.
It’s tough; you’d rather lose close games than get thrashed, but we’ve lost a lot of wickets at the start, and the way the younger guys have brought the team so close is encouraging (on Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma).
“They have incredible confidence; seeing a guy like Ashutosh play sweeps and big hits against pacers is fantastic to watch.
Losing close games is disheartening, but this team has many positives. We still believe in ourselves; we believe we can turn things around; the sun will rise tomorrow, and we will hopefully be on a winning streak,” Curran said.
