"The team would have gotten stronger if they had gone after him" - Aakash Chopra on the Gujarat Titans not acquiring Mayank Agarwal

Aakash Chopra feels the Gujarat Titans (GT) would have become even more formidable had they acquired Mayank Agarwal at the IPL 2023 auction.

Mayank, who was released by the Punjab Kings, was bought for ₹8.25 crore by SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the mini-auction in Kochi last Friday, December 23. The Titans acquired a total of seven players at the auction, including an opening option in the form of Kane Williamson.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra was slightly surprised by the Gujarat Titans' call of not trying to onboard Mayank, elaborating:

"The team was okay earlier and is okay now as well. There was no big Indian name available in batting. They didn't go towards Manish Pandey. They would have probably got him if they had gone. I thought they will go after Mayank Agarwal. The team would have gotten stronger if they had gone after him."

The former Indian batter reckons Hardik Pandya's IPL 2023 side are almost as strong as last season's team, saying:

"You could have got two Indian openers but they didn't go in that direction. They have strengthened their fast bowling, that's the kind of cricket they want to play. Have they become a stronger team after the auctions? I will say they are almost the same as last year."

The Titans bolstered their seam-bowling department by acquiring Shivam Mavi, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma and Odean Smith. However, they will miss the services of Lockie Ferguson, who was traded to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the auction.

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"You will get stability" - Aakash Chopra on the Gujarat Titans' acquisition of Kane Williamson

The Gujarat Titans bought Kane Williamson for ₹2 crore. [P/C: iplt20.com]

However, Chopra added that Williamson's acquisition and the onboarding of a couple of Indian pacers might make this year's team slightly better, stating:

"There will be a slight improvement because of Kane coming in. You will get stability, you have got a few more options in Indian fast bowling. If you see from that angle, they are looking 10 percent better than what they were looking earlier."

The reputed commentator highlighted that Mavi's inclusion will give the franchise the option to play three Indian seamers, explaining:

"Yash Dayal used to bowl well with Shami and there used to be an overseas fast bowler along with them. They could have a similar combination now as well, but now they can go with all three Indian fast bowlers, they can play Yash Dayal, Shami and Shivam Mavi as the third."

Chopra added that the Gujarat Titans have Rashid Khan as an overseas leg-spinner and Pandya as a seam-bowling all-rounder. He reckons the defending champions can either use Jayant Yadav or R Sai Kishore as the second spin-bowling option or even play Smith as an additional all-rounder if they field three Indian seamers.