Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra took centre stage and talked about the replacement signings made by Rajasthan Royals as the side gears up to take Punjab Kings in game 59 of the ongoing IPL (Indian Premier League) 2025.
The stage is set for game 59 of the ongoing IPL (Indian Premier League) 2025. Rajasthan Royals are all set to lock horns with Punjab Kings at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on May 18. Both sides will hope to put in a good performance. Where RR have already been eliminated from the tournament, Punjab Kings are well in the race for the playoffs.
Ahead of the game, Royals had made some changes to their squad owing to injuries. The side roped in 19-year-old Lhuan Dre-Pretorius for the remainder of the season and also announced the signing of Nandre Burger in place of the injured Sandeep Sharma.
However, Burger is unavailable to play for Royals for the remainder of the season, which rendered the replacement signing moot for the next two games. The same did not sit well with former India cricketer Aakash Chopra. He questioned why Royals picked Burger if he was unavailable.
“There is no Jofra Archer. There is no Nandre Burger. Burger hasn’t come, or he is already injured. He is not available, and I am thinking, What have you done? You took him as a replacement for Sandeep Sharma. You won’t take a replacement if a player who comes as a replacement gets injured,” Chopra said in a video on his YouTube channel.
“They have basically done it for the next year only. Rajasthan haven’t thought about this year at all because they cannot play Nandre Burger now as he isn’t available. They have selected an unavailable player so that they can ace the next year’s auction. Very interesting choice,” he observed.
Furthermore, Chopra reflected on how several star players being unavailable for Royals could continue to add to their problems as the IPL restarts once more. “I don’t have any idea about Sanju Samson’s availability. Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag will play here. (Lhuan-dre) Pretorius has come. He is a good batter. They don’t have (Maheesh) Theekshana as well. Many of their players are not there. So Rajasthan’s known problems will keep mounting,” he said.
