IPL 2020: Were KKR right on sending Rahul Tripathi to bat at No. 8?

Kolkata Knight Riders suffered their second defeat in four games of the Indian Premier League this season. They are currently placed in the fifth spot of the table. Chasing a target of 229, they fell short by 18 runs, with Nitish Rana (58) being their highest scorer.

Former champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) suffered their fourth defeat of the season, as they succumbed to an 18-run defeat to Delhi Capitals (DC), in Match 16 of the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL), in Sharjah, on Saturday. The win takes them down to the fifth spot in the table, while their batting order is being questioned.

Chasing a heavy target of 229, KKR decided to open with Shubman Gill and Sunil Narine, as the latter departed for mere three. At number three, came Nitish Rana, who was their top scorer, with a score of 58.

However, what was notable that Rahul Tripathi, who happens to be an opener in the domestic circuit, was pushed down to number eight. On the same note, former cricketer-turned commentator, Aakash Chopra, has questioned skipper Dinesh Karthik's tactics.

"You sent Rahul Tripathi even after Cummins. Who sends a batsman at the No 8 spot, he is an opener. You need to make him open and he will do well, he is very close to my heart. I feel he will do a good job at the top of the order with Shubman Gill," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

"KKR could have chased down the 229-run target. You played an extra batsman in Rahul Tripathi instead of Kuldeep Yadav. But, if you have played him, you should have opened with him. You are opening with Narine and that experiment is not working," he added.

Notably, Tripathi had opened for Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) in 2017, where he fared well. Meanwhile, Chopra also questioned Karthik's decision to not send the in-form Eoin Morgan up the order.

"It is beyond my understanding why KKR is not giving enough batting to Eoin Morgan. Their batting order is not working at this point of time. Morgan is a run-away match-winner. If you see his record from 2019, he is batting at a strike-rate of 170. And, in this team also, he has been stunning in the last match, as well as this match,' he wondered.

However, Chopra was all praise for Gill and Rana, who played combating innings of 28 and 58, respectively. "So, there was a problem with the batting order. Nitish Rana played well. Shubman Gill, till the time he was in the middle, played well," he added.