On May 3, the evening match in Mohali will feature the two teams Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings. The host team will move up to the top three in the points standings with a victory, but the five-time champions’ chances of making the playoffs will be further boosted with a win.
Akash Chopra speaks on his Youtube Channel
In a video previewing the match that he posted on his YouTube account, Chopra suggested that the majority of the Mumbai Indians’ bowlers may have trouble in Mohali as well, arguing:
“You expect a flat pitch on this ground. If it is a road-like pitch, you might once again see Mumbai’s bowling struggling. I won’t be surprised if they struggle, barring someone like Piyush Chawla, who has a very good idea of this ground and this team.”
The former Indian opener explained why he believes Rohit Sharma deserves to be in the running despite MI’s depth in the batting order:
“Rohit Sharma will have to score runs because it looks slightly better if he scores runs, but let’s be fair, Mumbai has a lot of batting. Ishan Kishan, Rohit, Tilak Varma, Surykumar Yadav, Cameron Green, Tim David – there is proper depth in that batting and it is firing as well.”
184 runs recorded by Rohit in eight innings have been scored at a dismal average of 23.00. In their most recent match against the Rajasthan Royals, he scored just three runs, but the Mumbai Indians nevertheless easily overcame a 213-run goal.
Spin, according to Aakash Chopra, could be the Punjab Kings‘ bowlers’ major flaw. He explains:
“If I talk about Punjab’s bowling, spin is a department that lacks teeth. Sam Curran, Arshdeep Singh and Kagiso Rabada – you get 12 good overs of pace from them. Then they get some work done by Sikandar Raza, Liam Livingstone and Rahul Chahar to complete the 20 overs.”
The ex-cricketer-turned-commentator believes Shikhar Dhawan will do admirably for the Punjab Kings with the bat, saying:
“Shikhar Dhawan will fire in batting. He likes this team, he is back on this ground and got out slightly early in two matches, so it is now Shikhi boy’s time. After that Prabhsimran Singh, Atharva Taide, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Sikandar Raza, Shahrukh Khan – combine five fingers to make a fist, that’s Punjab’s strength.”
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