Players Mumbai Indians should let go ahead of the IPL 2023 by Aakash Chopra: Speaking on his youtube channel, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra reckons Mumbai Indians had a bittersweet season in the ongoing IPL. The five-time champions endured their worst ever season in the history of the tournament, losing all of its first eight matches, making it the worst ever losing streak in the IPL.
Though the franchise had several flaws, one of the major ingredients of Mumbai’s downfall was the lack of quality all-rounders. The franchise didn’t spend enough during the auctions to get quality all-rounder’s on-board which made the team uni-dimensional.
Aakash Chopra reckons Mumbai Indians will not retain the Caribbean all-rounder Kieron Pollard for the next season.
“I think we have seen the last of Kieron Pollard. ₹6 crores will be released if they don’t retain him,” said Aakash Chopra on his Youtube Channel.
Kieron Pollard had a horrible outing for Mumbai in the IPL 2022. The Caribbean legend could only score 144 runs in the entire league stage at a miserable strike rate of 107.46 before getting dropped from the playing xi for the last few matches.
Pollard was dropped from the team following his consecutive failures to produce high finishes and youngsters were tested by the Mumbai Indians.
The renowned commentator, Aakash Chopra, further added that the five-time title winners can also let go of spinner Murugan Ashwin and Tymal Mills, however, he was sceptical about the place of pacer Jaydev Unadkat in the team.
“I think they can let Murugan Ashwin (₹1.6 crores) go as well. I am not sure about Jaydev Unadkat (₹1.3 crores) but they can definitely say bye-bye to Tymal Mills (₹1.5 crores).”
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Tilak Verma is a positive for Mumbai Indians:
Shifting his focus on positives, Aakash Chopra reckons Tilak Verma is the find for Mumbai Indians from season fifteen.
The 19-year old batter played brilliant cricket throughout the entire league stage. Verma ended his IPL 2022 with 397 runs in 14 matches at a brilliant average of 36.09.
“He is absolutely brilliant. He was given a chance to bat up the order and delivered. He is a future investment. He has a very good temperament and it doesn’t seem like he will have second-season blues. Also, Mumbai did not show enough confidence in Tim David. But when they did, he showcased his talent.”
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