The IPL 2022 is in its final phase as today Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore will clash against each other in the second qualifier and the winner of this match will play in the finals on May 29 against the new IPL team Gujarat Titans. Both the games – today’s match and the final one will be played at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
It won’t be wrong to say that many surprises sprung in the IPL 2022 and one of them was the failure of five times champion Mumbai Indians in the tournament. Rohit Sharma-led team is considered as one of the strongest teams of the league and it was considered as the favorites to win the tournament but it ended at the bottom of the points table with just 4 wins in the 14 matches played by it.
There is no denying the fact that the MI team management will leave no stone unturned in preparing for a comeback in the IPL 2023 and it will certainly require release of some players and formation of a new team.
The former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has spoken on this matter in a video which has been posted on his YouTube channel. He states that MI will release the Caribbean cricketer Kieron Pollard (Rs. 6 crore) because he performed badly in the tournament and as per Chopra, Pollard’s last has been seen this time. Though Kieron Pollard has played an important role in MI’s earlier title wins but in this season, he has scored only 144 runs at a low average of 14.40.
Aakash Chopra further says that MI may or may not release Murugan Ashwin (Rs. 1.6 crore) and Jaydev Unadkat (Rs. 1.3 crore) but he is sure that Tymal Mills (Rs. 1.5 crores) will definitely be released.
Aakash Chopra was full of praises for Tilak Varma who was consistent throughout the IPL 2022 and performed pretty well with the bat. In his opinion, Tilak Varma has a good temperament and he is a useful investment for future. Chopra also appreciates Tim David and says that MI didn’t show confidence in him in the beginning but when they gave him chance, he justified his selection completely. While Tilak Varma scored 397 runs (strike rate – 131.02) in 14 matches, Tim David scored 186 runs (strike rate – 216.28) in 8 matches.
Talking about the reason behind MI’s poor performance in the IPL 2022, Aakash Chopra said that in this season, MI was one-dimensional team as it didn’t have good all-rounders. He added that MI’s batters don’t bowl and bowlers don’t bat, earlier Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard used to play the role of all-rounders in a good manner. It is not the case now which means they need to form a new team and give more chances to the youngsters.
Do you agree with Aakash Chopra? Let us know your views in this regard.