"It's difficult to assemble a better 11 or 12 than this" - Aakash Chopra on the Mumbai Indians' strengths ahead of IPL 2025

Former India player Aakash Chopra has picked the Mumbai Indians' (MI) first-choice playing combination as their biggest strength ahead of IPL 2025. He noted that the five-time champions have assembled the best players across all departments.

MI retained Jasprit Bumrah (₹18 crore), Hardik Pandya (₹16.35 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (₹16.35 crore), Rohit Sharma (₹16.30 crore) and Tilak Varma (₹8 crore) ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. They spent ₹44.80 crore at the mega auction last November to acquire 18 more players to assemble a 23-member squad.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra', the former India opener chose the Mumbai Indians' first 12 as their biggest positive heading into IPL 2025.

"Their strength is that it's difficult to assemble a better 11 or 12 than this. They have all the best players. You can start from Rohit Sharma, then Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks, it's great if you wish to play both, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya. After that, Naman Dhir will still be left. The depth is incredible," he said (4:45).

"If we check their bowling, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah. Can you find a better trio for the Wankhede pitch where the ball moves a little and wickets fall in the powerplay? You have got the best possible options available. In spin, they have Mitchell Santner and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. So the first 12 is outstanding," Chopra added.

The Mumbai Indians bought Allah Ghazanfar for ₹4.80 crore at the IPL 2025 auction. However, the Afghanistan spinner has been ruled out of the tournament due to an injury and has been replaced by countrymate Mujeeb Ur Rahman (₹2 crore).

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"Every player is filled with experience" - Aakash Chopra on the Mumbai Indians' other strengths heading into IPL 2025

Mitchell Santner (left) and Trent Boult are among the experienced players in the Mumbai Indians' IPL 2025 squad. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that the Mumbai Indians have assembled an experience-heavy squad for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League.

"The second thing this team has kept in mind is that they have brought in a lot of experience. From Ryan Rickelton or Will Jacks to Mitchell Santner or Trent Boult, every player is filled with experience. Their entire squad has been built with the thought process of assembling experienced and successful T20 superstars of the world," he said (5:35).

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that MI would also be helped by greater acceptance of Hardik Pandya as skipper.

"The acceptance was less last year. It was Hardik Pandya's first year as captain, and it is the team that has Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, who have been Indian captains in different formats. Hardik Pandya was made the captain of such a team and suddenly the crowd went against him. This season will be different because everyone has accepted it," Chopra observed.

Aakash Chopra opined that the Mumbai Indians would play unitedly under Hardik Pandya's leadership in IPL 2025. He noted that past differences or insecurities, if any, would be consigned to pages of history.