"It will not be easy to beat Mumbai" - Aakash Chopra on the Gujarat Titans' IPL 2023 Qualifier 2 clash vs Mumbai Indians

Aakash Chopra feels the Mumbai Indians (MI) will be hard to beat but added that the Gujarat Titans (GT) cannot be taken lightly in the Qualifier 2 of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2023).

The two sides will lock horns at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday, May 26. The winner will face the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the final at the same venue two days later.

While previewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that the Mumbai Indians will be a tough nut to crack. However, he added that the Gujarat Titans are also a formidable team, explaining:

"It will not be easy to beat Mumbai. Gujarat are also a good team. Don't take Gujarat lightly because they remained at No. 1 continuously throughout the tournament. Once they became No. 1, they didn't go down after that and qualified extremely easily."

The former Indian opener refrained from picking a favorite for the game, saying:

"There was no pressure on them to win the last match. Others' fortunes were in their hands. So I feel it will be an extremely beautiful encounter. It is 50-50. I am not saying anything, whoever plays well should win, what difference does it make to us? We should get to see a good match."

The Mumbai Indians have won six of their last eight matches, including a comprehensive 81-run win against the Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator. The Gujarat Titans topped the IPL 2023 points table with 10 wins but came up short against CSK in Qualifier 1.

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"Mohammad Shami bowling to the two Mumbai Indians openers" - Aakash Chopra on the contest to watch out for

Mohammad Shami didn't dismiss either Ishan Kishan or Rohit Sharma in their two previous clashes. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra expects a riveting contest between the Gujarat Titans' Mohammad Shami and the Mumbai Indians' Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, stating:

"For me, the contest of the day that you would want to watch attentively is Mohammad Shami bowling to the two Mumbai Indians openers. When both these teams met last time, Shami was bowling under lights but he didn't get a single wicket."

The cricketer-turned-commentator acknowledged that the GT seamer went wicketless in their last clash in Ahmedabad. However, he pointed out that the right-arm seamer was virtually unplayable in that game, elaborating:

"However, if you had seen that spell, you would have said what a spell it was, that he should have got not one or two but four or five wickets. The batters weren't able to touch the ball with their bats but it wasn't his day, went wicketless. There was a catch in the end which Hardik Pandya dropped."

Chopra concluded by highlighting that Rohit has a dismal record in playoff games, barring finals, in his entire career and was dismissed cheaply by Hardik Pandya in the aforementioned game. He added that it will be interesting to see how Kishan plays in seaming conditions under the lights.