Aakash Chopra has weighed in strongly on the sluggish knock played by Lucknow Super Giants' opener Arshin Kulkarni against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Match 50 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Despite LSG's close win in the contest, Chopra believes that LSG could have retired Kulkarni during the match for playing with a non-aggressive approach alongside Mitchell Marsh.



The former India opener believes that the concept of retiring a batter out should be used more frequently, and teams should not hesitate to use it to their own advantage, especially in modern-day T20 cricket. He further said how Kulkarni playing at a miserly strike rate could have dented LSG's chances in the match and how calling him back to the dugout would have been a wise call, taken in the team's welfare.



Arshin's opening partner, Marsh, on the other hand, batted in full swing, scoring a magnificent century (111 off 56) – a knock that also got him the Player of the Match as LSG posted a DLS target of 213 for RCB in 19 overs, where the opposition lost by 9 runs. The former cricketer believes that Arshin's slow innings could have hurt LSG a lot had they lost the match at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium.



Chopra believes that a team usually does not keep giving overs to a bowler who has been expensive in his first spell. In the same vein, the traditional approach of letting batters continue at the crease despite not being able to up the ante should stop. The cricketer-turned-commentator added that teams should do so without feeling any shame about it.