Former India National Cricket Team opening batsman Aakash Chopra has asserted that the unavailability of the star batters – Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant – in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 will be a massive blow to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Delhi Capitals (DC).
The 25-year-old Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of all cricketing actions for an indefinite period of time due to the injuries he sustained in a horrific road accident in December last year.
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David Warner has officially been named as the skipper of the Delhi Capitals for the upcoming Indian Premier League and spin-bowling all-rounder Axar Patel will be his deputy for the season.
Meanwhile, there is a question mark over the availability of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Shreyas Iyer for the IPL 2023 due to his recurring back issues. Iyer missed the last match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 and has been ruled out of the ODI series against the Aussies. Some reports suggest that the star batter will also miss the initial half of the IPL 2023.
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In a video shared on his official YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra spoke about Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer.
“Shreyas Iyer is an issue because there are question marks over his fitness. He has got back spasms and has missed a lot of cricket. IPL is in doubt. If Rishabh Pant is not there for Delhi and Shreyas Iyer is not there for KKR – these are huge blows.
“I will tell you why. There is only one player like Rishabh Pant in the entire world and you are not going to get an Indian batter like Shreyas Iyer as well. When you are not going to get one and you see this team, you say – ‘Oh gosh, what will happen,” he elaborated.
A lot of questions can come before KKR if Shreyas Iyer is not available – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra further said that the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) don’t have a replacement for Shreyas Iyer and added that they will have to make changes to their game plan with the lack of Indians in the top five.
Aakash Chopra also said that finding a captain in Iyer’s absence will be a big challenge for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise.
“If we focus on Shreyas, you have Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh and Venkatesh Iyer here, but from where will you get a top-five Indian batter? That is going to be a huge concern.
“They might have to change their game plan and make Sunil Narine open. Who will do the captaincy? That will be another question. So a lot of questions can come before KKR if he is not available to play a few games in the IPL,” Aakash Chopra stated.
Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma | Rishabh Pant | KL Rahul | Suryakumar Yadav | Sanju Samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah
