"I feel Kieron Pollard will not play any further this year" - Aakash Chopra on Mumbai Indians' batting effort vs Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022

Kieron Pollard has been a shadow of his former self in IPL 2022 [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra reckons the Mumbai Indians (MI) will drop Kieron Pollard from their playing XI for the remainder of IPL 2022.

Pollard managed just four runs off 14 deliveries in Friday's (May 6) Indian Premier League match against the Gujarat Titans (GT). However, the five-time champions still posted a fighting total of 177/6 and went on to win the match by five runs.

While reflecting on the Mumbai Indians' batting effort in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra pointed out that Pollard might have played his last match in IPL 2022. He reasoned:

"Tilak Varma got run out but before that Kieron Pollard got out. That's an interesting one, I feel Kieron Pollard will not play any further this year, that's it, they won't play him anymore because Dewald Brevis is sitting outside and Tim David is doing well."

However, the former India cricketer was all praise for the destructive knock played by Tim David and questioned the Mumbai Indians for not persisting with him earlier. Chopra observed:

"Don't know why they didn't play a punt on Tim David earlier. They had kept this six-hitting machine sitting outside for a long time. Now they have remembered that they should play him and he has not disappointed them even once since they have played him, match-winning knocks coming at the end."

David, who was dropped by MI after just two failures at the start of the tournament, smoked an unbeaten 44 off 21 balls, a knock studded with two fours and four sixes. The big-hitting Singaporean provided the finishing touches in MI's last win against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) as well.

"When Rohit plays like this, it seems life is so beautiful" - Aakash Chopra on the Mumbai Indians' top order

Rohit Sharma was at his explosive best against the Gujarat Titans [P/C: iplt20.com]

Speaking about the start of the Mumbai Indians' innings, Aakash Chopra was enthused by the knock played by Rohit Sharma. He elaborated:

"The start the openers gave - Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma - when Rohit plays like this, it seems life is so beautiful. When Rohit Sharma was in such form, how well he batted, I was absolutely gobsmacked. It is extremely enjoyable when we see Rohit bat like that."

The reputed commentator also had a word of praise for Ishan Kishan for giving the Mumbai Indians a blazing start along with Sharma. Chopra said:

"And this time even Ishan was there with him. The partnership was 74 runs in 7.3 overs, which means they went at double speed, they were batting like Quick Gun Murugan. There Rashid Khan came and picked up a wicket and Ishan Kishan fell prey to Alzarri Joseph. Suryakumar got out early, he fell prey to Sangwan."

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Sharma (43 off 28) and Kishan (45 off 29) strung together a 74-run partnership for the opening wicket in just 7.3 overs. While the Mumbai Indians skipper was the early aggressor, Kishan joined the party as his innings progressed.