"He is a one-wicket bowler" - Aakash Chopra on Mumbai Indians' weakness heading into IPL 2023

Aakash Chopra feels the Mumbai Indians' (MI) bowling could prove to be their Achilles heel in IPL 2023. He also labeled Jason Behrendorff a "one-wicket bowler."

MI had planned to field Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer in tandem in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. However, the former's back injury has ruled him out of the tournament and the five-time champions have been dealt a further blow, with Jhye Richardson also rendered hors de combat.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra picked the Mumbai Indians' bowling as their weakness heading into the tournament, saying:

"When I talk about their weakness, I have to go towards bowling. They will have to definitely play Jason Behrendoff. Although he had a good BBL (Big Bash League), but he is a one-wicket bowler. He generally picks up just one wicket. We saw very few games in the BBL as well where he picked up two or three wickets."

The former Indian opener pointed out that the possible inclusion of Gerald Coetzee would also not address MI's problem, reasoning:

"I am hearing that there are discussions about Gerald Coetzee. He might become a part of this team, so they will get another fast-bowling option, but it will be an overseas option."

Coetzee had an excellent SA20 for the Joburg Super Kings, scalping 17 wickets in nine matches at an acceptable economy rate of 8.07. The South African seamer could be included in the Mumbai Indians' squad as a replacement for Richardson.

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"I don't see Indian fast bowlers" - Aakash Chopra on Mumbai Indians' bowling options

Arjun Tendulkar could make his IPL debut this year. [P/C: Mumbai Indians]

Aakash Chopra highlighted that the Mumbai Indians do not have any recognized Indian seam-bowling options, elaborating:

"If I try to search for the Indian options, they have Nehal Wadhera, Shams Mulani, Duan Jansen, Cameron Green, Jofra Archer, Arshad Khan, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Raghav Goyal and Piyush Chawla - I don't see Indian fast bowlers."

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Rohit Sharma might have to extract 12 overs of seam bowling from their overseas contingent, observing:

"They might have to get Cameron Green, Jofra Archer and Jason Behrendoff to bowl four overs apiece. After that, I am not seeing any more bowlers. I see Piyush Chawla, Kumar Kartikeya and Hrithik Shokeen but they are not exactly the best bowling attack."

Chopra concluded by opining that MI might find it difficult to qualify for the playoffs this year as well. He believes Bumrah's absence will hurt the franchise.