Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has suggested Mumbai Indians (MI) to make few serious changes to their playing XI if they want to changes their fortune in the ongoing second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) in the UAE.
At the moment, Mumbai Indians (MI) is at 6th place in the IPL 14 points table with just 4 wins from 10 games, though, the defending champions are still in the race for the playoffs, but they have to beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Wednesday’s (September 28) game to keep their hopes alive.
MI has suffered back-to-back defeats in their last three games in the ongoing IPL 2021 and Chopra suggested the five-time champions not give more importance to their “reputation” than the form, as, in the end, it is players’ performance that wins the game.
He further suggested MI drop Ishan Kishan and Adam Milne from the playing XI and replace them with Chris Lynn and Dhawal Kulkarni against PBKS in their next IPL 2021 game on Wednesday.
Chopra said on his YouTube channel, “Mumbai, if you want your fortunes to change, then change the players. If someone is not scoring runs with the bat and is not looking in form, then the form is more important than reputation. I know it is sad but this is what it is.”
He added, “One change - seriously do it. Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya - this is not happening. So play Chris Lynn and keep him at No. 3, Surya at No. 4, Pollard at No. 5, Hardik at No. 6, and Krunal at No. 7. Play Dhawal Kulkarni in place of Adam Milne. This is your one chance.”
The commentator also feels MI can also Saurabh Tiwary in place of Kishan. Chopra further explained, “Another chance is if you want to play Adam Milne or Nathan Coulter-Nile for Adam Milne, for example, then in place of Ishan Kishan I would say you should play Saurabh Tiwary because the No.3 and No.4 you have kept together is not working out.”
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However, the cricket analyst still feels the MI has a realistic chance of making the playoffs if they beat PBKS in Wednesday’s IPL 14 game in Abu Dhabi.
He signed off by saying, “If Mumbai doesn't stabilize now, when will they do that? The thing in Mumbai's favor is that only one of the remaining encounters is a really tight one, other than that the rest of the matches are not that difficult. They do have a chance if they win today.”
