Absence Of Jofra Archer Makes Rajasthan Royals Bowling Attack Pretty Weak: Aakash Chopra
Published - 07 Apr 2021, 10:01 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 02:39 PM
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra feels that the absence of pacer Jofra Archer and the uncertainty over Chris Morris fitness makes the Rajasthan Royals bowling attack every week.
Jofra Archer will miss at least the first half of the season due to a freak injury that he suffered before England’s winter tour of India.
Archer recently went injury to remove a piece of glass from a tendon in his right index finger. Archer was Rajasthan Royals best bowler by a country mile last season and with him being unavailable and Chris Morris having not played much cricket since the last IPL, they may have to play the likes of Mustafizur Rahman or Andrew Tye to cover up for lack of quality as far as Indian fast bowlers are concerned.
“Jofra has got a strange injury that he had a fish bowl in the room which fell and he got hurt but that has become a very serious issue. If Jofra is not there in their bowling and we don’t know about Morris’ fitness, you will play one out of Mustafizur Rahman or Andrew Tye, the bowling is weak,” said Aakash Chopra on his official Youtube channel.
“Let’s be honest, the bowling might have Jaydev Unadkat, Shreyas Gopal, Kartik Tyagi or Rahul Tewatia, it is a weak bowling lineup. You need the bowling to consistently do well. Last time also we saw Jofra giving 6.5 runs per over while the rest of the fast bowlers were giving 11.5. He is brilliant but if he is twice as good, it means the rest of the bowling looks very ordinary,” added Chopra.
‘Rajasthan Royals biggest weakness is overdependence on the overseas players’- Aakash Chopra
Chopra further added that Rajasthan Royals’ biggest weakness apart from their bowling unit is their overdependence on overseas players. n
The Royals let go of Robin Uthappa and did not pick any specialist Indian middle-order batsman as his replacement, meaning that they will once again be heavily reliant on Stokes, Buttler, and Samson.
”Their biggest weakness is overdependence on the overseas players. They have let Robin Uthappa go as well and have not taken some other good Indian batsman, Shivam Dube is a fantastic buy but you have not taken a top-order batsman,” said Chopra.
Chopra signed off by saying that playing Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes as openers could prove to be a costly decision for them if either of them fails.
“Yashasvi is there but you are not giving him opportunities, so you have not developed him to become a better player or a match-winner. You have got your two overseas players to open, which is not an ideal thing. Nine out of ten times it is not a great strategy because if on any day both get out, there is no one down the order. So you will leave the baton with the kids, which is not the ideal thing,” concluded Chopra.
Also Read: IPL 2021: I Want To Have A Positive Influence On Everything I Do, Says Glenn Maxwell
