"I won't be surprised if they struggle" - Aakash Chopra on Mumbai Indians' bowling heading into IPL 2023 clash vs Punjab Kings

Aakash Chopra expects the Mumbai Indians (MI) bowlers to struggle in their IPL 2023 clash against the Punjab Kings (PBKS).

The two sides will lock horns in the evening game in Mohali on Wednesday, May 3. While a win for the home team will help them climb into the top three in the points table, a positive result for the five-time champions will give further impetus to their playoff qualification hopes.

While previewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that most Mumbai Indians' bowlers might find it hard in Mohali as well, reasoning:

"You expect a flat pitch on this ground. If it is a road-like pitch, you might once again see Mumbai's bowling struggling. I won't be surprised if they struggle, barring someone like Piyush Chawla, who has a very good idea of this ground and this team."

While acknowledging MI's batting depth, the former Indian opener feels Rohit Sharma needs to be among the runs, elaborating:

"Rohit Sharma will have to score runs because it looks slightly better if he scores runs, but let's be fair, Mumbai has a lot of batting. Ishan Kishan, Rohit, Tilak Varma, Surykumar Yadav, Cameron Green, Tim David - there is proper depth in that batting and it is firing as well."

Rohit has aggregated 184 runs in eight innings at an underwhelming average of 23.00 thus far. He managed just three runs in their last game against the Rajasthan Royals but the Mumbai Indians still chased down a 213-run target with relative ease.

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"Spin is a department that lacks teeth" - Aakash Chopra on the Punjab Kings' bowling

Rahul Chahar is expected to lead the Punjab Kings' spin-bowling attack. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra feels spin could prove to be the Achilles heel in the Punjab Kings' bowling, explaining:

"If I talk about Punjab's bowling, spin is a department that lacks teeth. Sam Curran, Arshdeep Singh and Kagiso Rabada - you get 12 good overs of pace from them. Then they get some work done by Sikandar Raza, Liam Livingstone and Rahul Chahar to complete the 20 overs."

The cricketer-turned-commentator expects Shikhar Dhawan to deliver the goods with the bat for the Punjab Kings, saying:

"Shikhar Dhawan will fire in batting. He likes this team, he is back on this ground and got out slightly early in two matches, so it is now Shikhi boy's time. After that Prabhsimran Singh, Atharva Taide, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Sikandar Raza, Shahrukh Khan - combine five fingers to make a fist, that's Punjab's strength."

Chopra refrained from picking a likely winner in the PBKS-MI clash. However, he added that a win is extremely crucial for both teams in their quest to qualify for the playoffs.