"They kept everyone whose name started with 'J' but they got jinxed" - Aakash Chopra on Mumbai Indians' bowling issues in IPL 2023

Aakash Chopra has highlighted that the Mumbai Indians' (MI) bowling proved to be their stumbling block in IPL 2023.

MI were hit hard by the injury-enforced absences of most of their frontline seamers in the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League. They still qualified for the playoffs but were knocked out of the tournament after losing to the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra reflected on the Mumbai Indians' IPL 2023 campaign. He pointed out that their premier seamers' injury issues proved to be their Achilles heel:

"All the pacers were injured. It started with Jasprit Bumrah, Jofra Archer was repeatedly in and out, and then Jhye Richardson. They kept everyone whose name started with 'J' but they got jinxed. There was no bowler seeing whom you felt that he is fit and that you can manage with him."

The former Indian opener observed that Chris Jordan, who was picked as Jofra Archer's replacement, was found wanting as usual:

"They picked another bowler with 'J' named Jordan but he got hit a lot and interestingly enough he has got hit every year in the IPL. It's not that this season was an aberration, where he regularly conceded 45-50 in four overs."

Chopra added that the England seamer has never been successful in the IPL:

"If you see all his numbers from the past, you will find that he proves extremely expensive and doesn't pick up that many wickets. He is outstanding out of India, for England and other T20 leagues, but somehow he is not successful at all in the IPL."

Jordan picked up just three wickets in the six matches he played for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023. He also proved to be extremely expensive, conceding an average of 10.77 runs per over.

---

"Piyush Chawla was there but where were the rest of the spinners?" - Aakash Chopra on the Mumbai Indians' spin-bowling issues

Piyush Chawla was MI's highest wicket-taker in IPL 2023. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra pointed out that the Mumbai Indians lacked a potent spinner apart from Piyush Chawla:

"It was the same story in spin as well. Piyush Chawla was there but where were the rest of the spinners? Kumar Kartikeya, Hrithik Shokeen and Raghav Goyal, but that's about it. They neither had spin nor fast bowling."

The cricketer-turned-commentator concluded by highlighting that it was always going to be an uphill task for the five-time champions to even qualify for the playoffs with such a bowling lineup:

"It is extremely difficult for a team to qualify with such bowling. They kept conceding 200-plus runs. They might not have conceded as many 200-plus totals in any season of the IPL before this season."

Akash Madhwal and Jason Behrendorff, with 14 scalps apiece, were the Mumbai Indians' most successful seamers in IPL 2023. While Piyush Chawla snared 22 wickets, none of their other spinners accounted for more than five dismissals.