IPL 2022: Aakash Chopra points out one miscalculation each in Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul's captaincy

Former Indian batter Aakash Chopra highlighted one big mistake from each of the two captains of the two new franchises, Lucknow Super Giants and the Gujarat Titans. KL Rahul led the LSG side with some IPL captaincy experience under his belt, yet it was Hardik Pandya’s side that prevailed with a win despite being his captaincy debut in the IPL. There was a lot of excitement for the game as it was the first time the Pandya brothers played as opponents since their childhood.

Also, the fans have always welcomed new teams joining the tournament with a lot of love, and they had an entertaining game that went right to the wire. Both teams started with hiccups while batting and they had to strive hard for runs in the first few overs. However, there was a flurry of boundaries towards the end as Gujarat were off to winning ways with a hard-fought win against the Lucknow Super Giants.

Lucknow did have a tight hold of the game at the halfway mark of the Gujarat Titan’s innings but lost the game in the last few overs.

Aakash Chopra reveals the two calculations that did not work

Chopra mentioned that Hardik should have gone with Lockie Ferguson or Mohammed Shami for the final over instead of Varun Aaron who had been leaking runs more often. Moreover, he also felt that Rahul missed out on a trick by not bowling Dushmantha Chameera his full quota of four overs, as things could have gone differently with the slightest of decisions.

“Aaron bowling the final over. When you have the options of Ferguson and Shami. Chameera, the best LSG bowler on the day, not finishing his quota, two calculations that didn’t really work for the two new captains. #IPL2022 ” Chopra tweeted.

Aaron bowling the final over. When you have the options of Fergusan and Shami. Chameera, the best LSG bowler on the day, not finishing his quota…two calculations that didn’t really work for the two new captains. #IPL2022

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 29, 2022

Rahul Tewatia (40*) and Abhinav Manohar (15*) stitched an excellent partnership towards the end for Gujarat Titans and chased down the target of 159 set by the Lucknow Super Giants. Mohammed Shami bagged the player of the match award for his brilliant spell of 3 for 25 earlier in the evening.