Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has questioned Mumbai Indians batting in the ongoing season. MI have lost all their three matches of the second phase and their batting unit has let the team down on all the occasions.
Once again the defending champions were skittled out for a paltry score of 111 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
The MI’s middle order failed to get going as Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan continued their poor form. Yadav was dismissed while chasing a wide ball whereas Kishan miscued his big shot against Yuzvendra Chahal when was on nine. SKY has managed to score 189 runs in 10 matches for MI in the ongoing season whereas Kishan has gathered only 107 runs in eight matches.
Furthermore, Krunal Pandya, who was promoted to no.5 against RCB, was dismissed for only five runs. Pandya has only scored 121 runs in 10 matches of the ongoing season. Thus, the defending champions have failed to come up with a collective batting performance in the ongoing season, which has led to their downfall.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “Mumbai opted to bowl first after winning the toss. Not a bad idea, you can chase, you have such good batting down the order on paper but currently, it is not happening. How can you win if your No. 3 to No. 6 are not batting well?”
On the other hand, MI got off to a perfect start in their run chase of 166 runs as Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock added 57 runs inside the first seven overs. However, the team crumbled after their opening duo was dismissed and no MI batsmen was able to get to double figures after that.
“When you start, you do not lose a single wicket in the powerplay. Everything is alright until Quinton De Kock and Rohit Sharma are there but the batting after that, this is disappointing. Hardik Pandya is playing but has not batted well the entire season, the same is the case with Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, and you will say that even Kieron Pollard has not batted well barring one or two innings.”
MI have won four matches out of the 10 they have played and are placed in seventh position. Thus, their road to the playoff stages is going to be a difficult one. The defending champions will next face Punjab Kings at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
