"They lose because of bowling" - Aakash Chopra on Mumbai Indians' issue heading into IPL 2023 clash against Rajasthan Royals

Aakash Chopra feels the Mumbai Indians' (MI) bowling is their area of concern heading into their IPL 2023 clash against the Rajasthan Royals (RR).

The two teams will square off at the Wankhede Stadium in the evening game on Sunday, April 30. While a win for RR will likely take them atop the standings, a positive result for MI will raise their hopes of qualifying for the playoffs.

While previewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra pointed out that the Mumbai Indians' bowling has proved to be their Achilles heel, elaborating:

"Mumbai have lost their last two matches. They lose because of bowling. They concede 200-odd runs and if they keep conceding 200 runs, the team's situation will keep changing from bad to worse. No matter how good the batting might be, scoring 200-plus runs is very difficult."

The former Indian opener added that while the Mumbai Indians have been hit hard by Jofra Archer's injury issues, they haven't fielded a stable bowling unit, observing:

"We saw that against Punjab and Gujarat as well. They have played Riley Meredith and Jason Behrendorff. Jofra Archer is unavailable. Arjun Tendulkar is playing but Kumar Kartikeya plays at times and Hrithik Shokeen plays on other occasions in the spin department."

Chopra highlighted that Piyush Chawla has been the only consistent performer with the ball for the Mumbai Indians thus far. He added that Cameron Green was also taken to the cleaners in their last game against the Gujarat Titans.

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"Who comes at No. 3 will be interesting" - Aakash Chopra on Sanju Samson's indifferent form ahead of Mumbai Indians clash

Sanju Samson scored a run-a-ball 17 in Rajasthan Royals' last game against CSK. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra highlighted that MI's bowling will be up against a formidable Rajasthan Royals batting lineup. However, he did acknowledge that Sanju Samson has not been among the runs lately, stating:

"They have a good Rajasthan team in front of them who have depth in batting and the ability to hit as well. Yashasvi Jaiswal will come alongside Jos Buttler. Who comes at No. 3 will be interesting. Sanju Samson hasn't scored runs for a while now."

The reputed commentator pointed out that the visitors have immense batting depth, explaining:

"It will have to be seen if Sanju has a good match or not. After that, you will find Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer. There is a lot of depth in batting. They don't use Jason Holder. They send R Ashwin above him but Holder can also bat."

Chopra added that the Mumbai Indians do not have any potent bowlers sitting on the bench either. He concluded by reiterating that the five-time champions are heavily dependent on their batting.