Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra slammed Tilak Varma’s performances after Mumbai Indians suffered a four-wicket loss against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Wednesday.

Varma meandered to 20 runs off 32 balls before he was dismissed by Kartik Tyagi. The left-hander has scored 356 runs in 13 matches of the ongoing IPL 2026 at an average of 32.36 and a strike rate of 148.95.

Barring scoring one century, and two fifties, Varma hasn’t been consistent for Mumbai Indians in the ongoing season.

“Mumbai’s batting was extremely ordinary. This team wouldn’t have even reached here had Corbin Bosch not scored those runs. That’s the reality. Neither Hardik Pandya nor Suryakumar Yadav scored runs. They have been two massive factors in the entire season due to which Mumbai are standing here at this point in time,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.

“In fact, even Tilak Varma in this match. Let’s be very honest, Tilak Varma has had only three or four good games. Overall, his season has also been very ordinary. He scored a century, won a game recently against Punjab, and scored another fifty, those were outstanding, but that’s about it,” he added.

Chopra questioned Varma for his below-par strike rate in the ongoing season.

“I won’t consider it a very good season, and he has scored very slowly. His strike rate has been close to 120 in the first 20 balls. He was extremely slow in this match. The performance of these three big players was extremely ordinary, and this team is in this situation because of that,” he observed.

On the other hand, the renowned commentator reckons Naman Dhir was given a wrong decision by the third umpire.

“I felt Naman Dhir wasn’t out. In Naman Dhir’s DRS dismissal, when the spike came, the ball hadn’t touched the bat. The entire ball’s shadow was visible on the bat. It means the ball hadn’t touched the bat,” he said.

Dhir was sent back without troubling the scorers after facing three balls.