Quite a few of them were a part of their XI: Aakash Chopra on MI's IPL 2023 auction strategy

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra feels Mumbai Indians (MI) will need to make some smart buys in the IPL 2023 auction to form a balanced playing XI. The five-time IPL champions finished right at the bottom of the table last season and have retained just 16 players ahead of the mini-auction.

One thing Chopra observed is that many among the released players as well as Kieron Pollard, who announced his retirement from the IPL, were a part of their playing XI last season. He feels they definitely need some all-rounders and spinners to form a formidable team combination and playing XI.

In a video on his YouTube channel, here's what Aakash Chopra had to say about MI's strategy going into the IPL 2023 auction:

"Releasing so many players is not a problem. But quite a few of them were a part of their playing XI last season. So they will definitely need to do some shopping in the auction, especially when it comes to spinners and all-rounders."

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There aren't many options brimming with talent: Aakash Chopra on MI's need for spinners

MI have released the spinners they had in Murugan Ashwin, Mayank Markande and also Sanjay Yadav. They do have options like Hrithik Shokeen and Kumar Kartikeya, but Aakash Chopra feels they lack depth in that department.

On this, the former cricketer stated:

"Indian spinners are definitely an issue for them. They do have the likes of Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Mayank Markande and Shreyas Gopal in the auction pool, but there aren't many options brimming with talent. So if they have anyone in mind in the first place, they should go hard for that player."

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Current MI squad: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Dewald Brevis, N Tilak Varma, Jofra Archer, Tim David, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Ramandeep Singh, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Jason Behrendorff, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Tristan Stubbs