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Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra feels Mumbai Indians (MI) opener Rohit Sharma could finally have a mammoth IPL season in terms of runs in the 2024 edition.
Chopra shed light on how over the 16 seasons of the IPL, Rohit has had just one season where he scored in excess of 500 runs (538 in 2013 edition). However, he reckons that with the burden of captaincy handed over to Hardik Pandya, Rohit could rediscover his mojo at the top.
In a video on his YouTube channel, here's what Aakash Chopra had to say about Rohit Sharma the batter (2:23):
"Rohit Sharma is such a player that we always expect he will have a 500-plus runs season. However, there has been just one instance of it so far. If they have relieved him of captaincy, it could bring the best out of Rohit. He could be another reason (for their success)."
Aakash Chopra also pointed out that there are players like Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav who haven't played competitive cricket in a long time. Hence, they will be hungry for success and that could work in MI's favor.
However, the former cricketer also felt that on the flip side, they would also have a lack of match practice. This might be a concern for the five-time IPL champions coming into the tournament.
Aakash Chopra on MI's lack of spin depth
Aakash Chopra feels Mumbai Indians didn't strengthen their spin bowling department and are once again dependent on Piyush Chawla to have a fantastic season. The veteran leg-spinner is also short on match practice and Chopra feels there isn't enough backup for MI to fall back on.
On this, Chopra said (8:17):
"They do not have the depth in spin quality. I love Piyush Chawla and he had a great season last time. Mohammad Nabi as an off-spinner on a small ground in Wankhede. Chawla was outstanding last year but hasn't played a lot of cricket coming into the IPL. There isn't a great spin back up and you may need that during the second half of the season."
Piyush Chawla was MI's strike bowler in Jasprit Bumrah's absence as he picked up as many as 22 wickets in 16 matches in the IPL 2023 season. It will be interesting to see how Mumbai respond if Chawla doesn't hit the ground running.
