Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis opening pair broken by Aakash Chopra because..

Former Indian cricketer turned expert analyst Aakash Chopra has news for all the Royal Challengers Bangalore fans and team management. He has come up with an explanation as to why RCB might be thinking of changing their opening pair of Faf Du Plessis and Virat Kohli.

Chopra in his latest show raised question marks over the duo’s lack of game time in the shortest format.

Aakash Chopra raised concerns that Du Plessis hasn’t played enough cricket since IPL 2023. And the same goes for Virat Kohli who has played just 2 games in the format since last year’s IPL.

Those two appearances for Kohli had come during India’s home 3-match T20I series against Afghanistan in January, right before the India Vs England Test series.

Kohli had been out of T20 action with the national team since the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final loss against England. For an entire year, he didn’t play any T20 cricket except the IPL and the situation is similar yet again.

Another fact is that Kohli will make his return to competitive cricket only through IPL 2024. The stalwart has been out of action since the Afghanistan series and also opted out for the entire Test series against England.

Aakash Chopra highlights the problem RCB might face with Virat Kohli and Du Plessis as the opening duo

While speaking on his latest YouTube video, Aakash Chopra highlighted the problem RCB might face this year with their opening duo. He claimed Faf Du Plessis only had one notable knock in the recent SA20 edition, whereas Virat Kohli had scores of 29 and 0 in his last T20Is.

In that case, if the seasoned campaigners fail to provide an attacking thrust, then it becomes a major problem.

“RCB’s Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli were a very successful pair last year. They may still be very, very good. The only caveat as to why I have not kept them in the top three is that Faf has played very little cricket since the last IPL.”

“If you leave aside one SA20 match, the performance was very ordinary. Virat also hasn’t played since the match against Afghanistan. In such a scenario, if Faf and Virat don’t hit the ground running, it could be a problem. You might see a change in the opening combination.” – Chopra said in his latest YT video.

Royal Challengers Bangalore full squad for IPL 2024

Faf du Plessis (C), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan.

RCB will take on reigning champions Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2024 opener at the Chepauk Stadium on March 22.