IPL 2021: "Rohit Sharma started like a Shatabdi but gradually became a goods train" - Aakash Chopra on the Mumbai Indians' insipid batting

Aakash Chopra has highlighted that the Mumbai Indians (MI) came up with an insipid batting performance against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). He pointed out that their skipper Rohit Sharma slowed down after a blazing start.

The Mumbai Indians got off to a rollicking start as they scored 56 runs in the powerplay without losing a wicket. But they lost momentum thereafter and finished with a below-par score of 155/6 in yesterday's IPL 2021 encounter.

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While reflecting on the Mumbai Indians' batting performance in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra pointed out that Rohit Sharma took his foot off the accelerator pedal after having given the team a blazing start alongside Quinton de Kock. He observed:

"Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock started in a very aggressive fashion. But Sunil Narine comes in the 10th over and dismisses Rohit. Rohit Sharma started like a Shatabdi but gradually became a goods train. He scored 33 runs in 30 balls, he doesn't play that slowly."

The cricketer-turned-commentator lamented the lack of runs from Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan's willows, which led to the Mumbai Indians setting an underwhelming target for KKR. Chopra elaborated:

"Quinton de Kock also became slow all of a sudden. Suryakumar Yadav's bat is not firing and the same is the case with Ishan Kishan. Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy - they just choked the opposition. Then Kieron Pollard tried his best, Krunal was also batting okay, but you left runs on the pitch as 175-180 should have been scored."

The Mumbai Indians scored just 75 runs in the last ten overs, even though they had nine wickets in hand going into the second half of their innings.

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"Don't be surprised if the Mumbai Indians don't even qualify" - Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra believes the Mumbai Indians not qualifying for the playoffs is within the realm of possibility. He said:

"Don't be surprised if the Mumbai Indians don't even qualify, that is also possible. The two-time defending champions, who are looking for a hat-trick, they might not qualify. It has been a long time since we have seen this type of annihilation of Mumbai."

The 44-year-old signed off by stating that the Mumbai Indians seem to have hit a downward spiral. Chopra explained:

"We expect that the Mumbai Indians will come back when the odds are against them. The Mumbai Indians are famous for fightbacks but they are going totally down at the moment. There is not one thing that is going in the Mumbai Indians' favor. Their insipid type of batting is very surprising."

The Mumbai Indians are currently placed sixth in the IPL 2021 points table. Although they have the same number of points as KKR and the Rajasthan Royals, the two teams are above them based on net run rate.