'It is impossible to have a season better than what the Mumbai Indians had in a league like the IPL' - Aakash Chopra
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has opined that the Mumbai Indians had almost a perfect season in IPL 2020, and that it is almost impossible for any team to perform better in such a highly competitive league.
He made this observation while reviewing the performance of the Rohit Sharma-led team in a video shared on his YouTube channel.
Aakash Chopra started by lauding the Mumbai Indians for possessing immense depth in all departments of the game, praising the effort they put in at the auction.
"The Mumbai Indians have an unbelievable depth, both in batting and bowling. They are amazing in the auction, which is also absolutely outstanding. In my opinion, they are the best T20 franchise team in the world."
The reputed commentator also appreciated the Mumbai Indians for figuring out their ideal XI right at the outset of IPL 2020 and giving clearly defined roles to some of the uncapped Indian players like Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav.
"The good thing about the Mumbai Indians was that they knew from the very start what their best XI was and then they did not make too many changes after that. They gave good roles to Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav and both of them did very well in those roles as well."
He also spoke highly of the dynamic duo making the best use of the opportunities given to them by the Mumbai Indians.
"Other teams also give similar roles to their players but very few players do as well as Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav did with the opporunities they got. So they are worthy of praise."
Aakash Chopra on the excellent run enjoyed by the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2020
Aakash Chopra pointed out that the Mumbai Indians had almost annihilated all the opposition they were confronted with after the defeat in their first match against the Chennai Super Kings.
"Their season was good right from the beginning. They may have lost their first match to CSK but once they started winning, they almost hammered everyone. There was a significant difference between the Mumbai Indians and the rest of the teams."
He iterated that the Mumbai Indians had great depth in their batting, with Quinton de Kock giving them a flying start in the company of either Rohit Sharma or Ishan Kishan, while Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya provided the finishing touches.
"Quinton de Kock gave them an explosive start as an opener. When Rohit was there, he was good at the top of the order otherwise Ishan Kishan did a good job. They have great depth in their batting and we are not even saying this time that they gave less batting to Pollard and Hardik Pandya."
Aakash Chopra signed off by observing that the Mumbai Indians enjoyed almost the best season any team could have had in an immensely competitive league like the IPL.
"This is the perfect season a team could ever have. It is impossible to have a season better than this in a league like the IPL. It might happen in the CPL where you win all the matches but that does not happen in the IPL."
The Mumbai Indians were certainly a cut above the rest in IPL 2020. The extent of their domination can be ascertained by the fact that they almost thrashed the Delhi Capitals, the second-best team in the competition, in all the four encounters between the two sides.