"Agar doge jeevandan, to Rohit Sharma itna maarega ki yaad rakhega poora khaandan" - Aakash Chopra on GT's IPL 2025 Eliminator loss vs MI

Former India player Aakash Chopra has blamed the Gujarat Titans' (GT) fielding for their IPL 2025 Eliminator loss to the Mumbai Indians (MI). He noted that Rohit Sharma made them pay for the catches they dropped.

GT's largesse in the field allowed MI to post 228/5 in the second playoff game of IPL 2025 in New Chandigarh on Friday, May 30. Shubman Gill and company managed only 208/6 in the chase, losing the game by 20 runs to get knocked out of the tournament.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener noted that dropped catches, especially the lives given to Rohit Sharma, potentially cost the Gujarat Titans a win in the IPL 2025 Eliminator.

"How will you grab the match if you don't grab catches? Agar doge jeevandan, to Rohit Sharma itna maarega ki yaad rakhega poora khaandan (If you give lives, Rohit Sharma would hit so much that your entire family would remember). The Gujarat Titans lost their third consecutive game," he said (0:01).

Chopra added that GT did an encore of the fielding errors they committed in their IPL 2025 away league game against MI.

"Gujarat Titans, what is your problem? A lot of Gujaratis might also be asking what you people did. When you played at the Wankhede, you dropped three catches in the powerplay overs. When you played here, you dropped two or three catches here too. What is happening?" he observed.

Rohit Sharma was dropped by Gerald Coetzee on three and then by Kusal Mendis on 12. The MI opener made the most of the reprieves, smashing 81 runs off 50 deliveries to help his team post a massive total.

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"You were forced to bowl Prasidh Krishna with the new ball" - Aakash Chopra on GT's bowling issues in IPL 2025 Eliminator loss vs MI

Prasidh Krishna shared the new ball with Mohammed Siraj in the IPL 2025 Eliminator. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that the Gujarat Titans' declining bowling standard was also responsible for their defeat in the IPL 2025 Eliminator, highlighting that Prasidh Krishna, their most potent middle-overs weapon, had to be used with the new ball.

"Gujarat's bowling nosedived. They haven't played badly in the tournament, but the bowling has gone way down as the tournament progressed. Maybe they peaked too early. You were forced to bowl Prasidh Krishna with the new ball. We were saying that it works out if he is not given the new ball," he said (3:50).

The cricketer-turned-commentator pointed out that while Jonny Bairstow took Krishna to the cleaners, Mohammed Siraj hasn't been at his best lately.

"However, you gave him the new ball, and Jonny thrashed him. So Prasidh Krishna's form went down. Mohammed Siraj bowled decently. However, he too has tapered off a little if you see the last four matches. Gerald Coetzee was played for sure, but wasn't bowled till the 10th over," Chopra observed.

Chopra added that GT's other bowlers weren't at their best either, with the dropped catches compounding their problems.

"Overseas bowler, whether it was Gerald or Rabada, didn't do a good job. Rashid Khan bowled decently in this match, but he has gone down. Sai Kishore has gone down. Overall, the truth is that the bowling standard went down, and if you are dropping catches, it's not a good story at all," he elaborated.

Prasidh Krishna picked up two wickets but conceded 53 runs in four overs in the IPL 2025 Eliminator. While Sai Kishore (2/42 in four overs) had an economy rate of 10.50 in the knockout game, Gerald Coetzee (0/51 in three overs) conceded an average of 17 runs per over.