"Mumbai cha raja, kab bajayega baaja?" - Aakash Chopra on Rohit Sharma's early dismissal in MI's IPL 2025 win vs SRH

Former India player Aakash Chopra has wondered when Rohit Sharma would be back to his destructive best in IPL 2025. He noted that the Mumbai Indians (MI) opener got off to a flying start in their clash against the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) but couldn't convert it into a substantial innings.

SRH set MI a 163-run target in Match 33 of IPL 2025 in Mumbai on Thursday, April 17. Rohit scored 26 runs off 16 deliveries in the chase as the home team achieved the target with four wickets and 11 balls to spare.

Reflecting on MI's chase in their IPL 2025 clash against SRH, Chopra pointed out that Rohit got dismissed when he seemed headed to a big score.

"In Mumbai's batting, there was a question again. Mumbai cha raja, kab bajayega baaja? That is a big question, but it's not happening. He got a six off the edge, and then he hit two excellent sixes. It seemed like things were going fine, and then he got out to a full toss," he said (4:00) in a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra'.

While observing that the former MI skipper hasn't lived up to expectations, Chopra noted that the other batters played cameos to take their side to a win.

"If we look at it from the first match until now, he is scoring a few more runs in every match, but it's been many innings. Rohit Sharma hasn't batted the way you expect him to. Ryan Rickelton got out. Suryakumar Yadav and everyone played short knocks, and Will Jacks scored runs in between all of that. So Will Jacks gave a Player of the Match performance," he observed.

However, the cricketer-turned-commentator questioned the five-time champions for not finishing the game earlier.

"I didn't understand where you took the match in the end. You should have finished this match in the 16th over. You could have hit boundaries easily and ended it, but people were getting out to full tosses. I didn't understand this match at all," Chopra elaborated.

The Mumbai Indians scored only one run and lost two wickets in the 18th over when they needed two runs for a win. Tilak Varma (21* off 17) then finished the game with a boundary off the first ball of the next over.

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"I am still surprised" - Aakash Chopra questions Hardik Pandya's captaincy in MI's IPL 2025 win vs SRH

Will Jacks was MI's most successful bowler in their IPL 2025 clash against SRH. [P/C: Getty]

Reflecting on the Mumbai Indians' bowling in their IPL 2025 clash against the SunRisers Hyderabad, Aakash Chopra praised Will Jacks (2/14 in three overs) for delivering a potent spell, but questioned Hardik Pandya for not using his spinners effectively.

"Will Jacks came in bowling. Where there is a will, there is a way. He picked up wickets. However, I am still surprised. It was a spin-friendly pitch and the ball was getting stuck, but Will Jacks didn't bowl his full quota of overs despite picking up two wickets, and (Mitchell) Santner bowled just one over," he said in the same video.

The analyst pointed out that while Jacks and Mitchell Santner (0/8 in 1 over) together bowled only four overs, the expensive Deepak Chahar and Hardik bowled their full quota.

"Two fast bowlers got hit, one was Deepak Chahar and the other was Hardik Pandya. Both conceded more than 40 runs, and they bowled four overs apiece. What happened wasn't understandable. Fours weren't hit off 15 full tosses," Chopra observed.

Chahar registered figures of 0/47 in four overs in MI's IPL 2025 clash against SRH. Hardik picked up a wicket but conceded 42 runs in his four-over spell.