“Mumbai Indians’ batting seems to lack depth this time” - Aakash Chopra previews DC vs MI clash in IPL 2022

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra feels that the Mumbai Indians’ (MI) batting for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 edition lacks depth. According to him, the five-time champions will miss the versatility of the Pandya brothers – Hardik and Krunal.

MI will kick off their IPL 2022 schedule by taking on the Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.

Previewing the clash, Chopra said during a discussion on his YouTube channel:

“Mumbai Indians’ batting seems to lack depth this time. More significantly, there are no multi-faceted players. Earlier, they had Hardik, Krunal and Kieron Pollard coming in back-to-back. In the batting order, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan will open, but Sky (Suryakumar) Yadav is not available for the first match. That’s an issue. I can see Tilak Varma getting a chance.”

Suryakumar joined the MI camp on Saturday. He was undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) after sustaining a thumb injury during the third T20I against West Indies last month.

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“Mumbai Indians might want to go in with more pace” – Aakash Chopra

During the discussion, Chopra opined that MI might prefer to go in with more pacers considering their match against Delhi will be played at the Brabourne Stadium. He said:

“Since the match is at Brabourne, Mumbai Indians might want to go in with more pace. They could go in with Daniel Sams, Tymal Mills and Jasprit Bumrah. Sams can bat as well so that could work in his favor. There is Fabian Allen as well, but spin might not work on this surface. Also, with his left-arm spin against Rishabh Pant, MI might not want to go down that route.”

Despite MI’s weaknesses, Chopra backed them to get the better of Delhi on Sunday. According to the 44-year-old, DC are literally at half-strength considering the number of players unavailable for the initial matches. He explained:

“Delhi are half the side at this point. (David) Warner and (Mitchell) Marsh are not available. They might have to open with (Tim) Seifert, Kona Bharat can bat at the top. Also, they might have to pick one between Khaleel (Ahmed) and Chetan (Sakariya). Delhi’s problems are manifold, so I see Mumbai winning this contest.”

DC will miss some of their key Aussie players in the initial stages since Cricket Australia (CA) granted the NoC to its centrally-contracted players to participate in IPL 2022 from April 6.