"If the ball sticks slightly on the pitch, this team will get stuck" - Aakash Chopra on Mumbai Indians' issue heading into IPL 2023 Eliminator vs LSG

Aakash Chopra feels the Mumbai Indians (MI) might come unstuck in the IPL 2023 Eliminator against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) if the match is played on a sticky surface.

The two sides will lock horns at Chepauk in Chennai on Wednesday, May 24. The winner of the clash will face the Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2 in Ahmedabad two days later to decide the Chennai Super Kings' opponent in the final to be played at the same venue on Sunday, May 28.

While previewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that the Mumbai Indians, who would have been heavy favorites on a placid surface, might struggle with the bat in Chennai, elaborating:

"If you do man-to-man marking, you will say the scale is massively tilted towards Mumbai if the match is played anywhere other than Chennai and Ekana for the simple reason that Mumbai have the batting might. If the ball sticks slightly on the pitch, this team will get stuck."

The former Indian opener reckons Rohit Sharma and Co. might be more concerned about the pitch than their opponents, stating:

"It is a solid batting lineup - Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Nehal Wadhera/Tilak Varma and then comes Tim David. They hit a lot. They concede 200 runs but score them as well every time. Mumbai's biggest problem is not from Lucknow but from the pitch."

The Mumbai Indians suffered a five-run defeat against the Lucknow Super Giants at the spin-friendly Ekana Stadium in Lucknow in the only league-phase clash between the two sides.

Ravi Bishnoi (2/26) changed the course of the game on that occasion by dismissing Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan after the MI openers had strung together a 90-run partnership. Mohsin Khan then bowled an excellent final over to help LSG register a narrow win.

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"Bowling is not that good" - Aakash Chopra on the Mumbai Indians' other concern

Piyush Chawla is MI's most successful bowler in IPL 2023. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra pointed out that the Mumbai Indians' bowling is their weaker suit, observing:

"Bowling is not that good. You will see Piyush Chawla there. Then another spinner, you can see anyone - Raghav Goyal, Kumar Kartikeya and Hrithik Shokeen play interchangeably."

While observing that Chris Jordan and Jason Behrendorff have had contrasting returns, the cricketer-turned-commentator highlighted that Akash Madhwal has been the Mumbai Indians' star performer with the ball in their last few games, saying:

"Then in fast bowling, you will see Chris Jordan, who gets hit a lot. Jason Behrendorff bowls well with the new ball. Akash Madhwal is actually the pick of the bowlers in the last six games."

Madhwal picked up eight wickets in the six matches he played in the league phase of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League. The right-arm seamer registered excellent figures of 4/37 in the five-time champions' must-win final league game against the SunRisers Hyderabad.