"Plan A is Ishan Kishan" - Aakash Chopra on the Mumbai Indians' choice between Kishan, De Kock and Boult at the IPL 2022 Auction

The Mumbai Indians did not retain Ishan Kishan ahead of the IPL 2022 Auction [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra believes Ishan Kishan might be the first preference among the players the Mumbai Indians (MI) will look to reacquire at the IPL 2022 Auction.

The five-time IPL champions retained Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard ahead of the mega auction. They had to let go of some of their established players like Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Quinton de Kock and Trent Boult.

During a discussion on the Star Sports show Game Plan, Aakash Chopra was asked about the Mumbai Indians' preferred order of reacquisition between Kishan, De Kock and Boult. He responded:

"In my opinion, Plan A is Ishan Kishan, Plan B is Quinton de Kock and Plan C is Trent Boult. They will try their best to get Ishan Kishan back but will they be able to do that? "

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The former KKR player pointed out that the Mumbai Indians might want to onboard Kagiso Rabada if his name comes before Boult at the auction. Chopra reasoned:

"Will they be able to get Trent Boult? You will try for sure but if Rabada comes first out of the basket, you will want to get Rabada first because you don't if you will be able to get Boult or not."

Boult formed a potent new-ball pair with Bumrah for the Rohit Sharma-led side. The New Zealand left-arm pacer has scalped 38 wickets at an acceptable economy rate of 7.94 in the last two seasons of the IPL.

"They wouldn't be able to do that" - Aakash Chopra on the Mumbai Indians sticking to their earlier formula

Kieron Pollard and the Pandya brothers were crucial cogs in the Mumbai Indians middle order

Aakash Chopra was also asked if the Mumbai Indians would be able to stick to their tried-and-tested formula in the IPL. He replied:

"I feel they wouldn't be able to do that. The formula I am talking about is the one where Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya were there with Hardik Pandya. They had multi-dimensional players in the middle order at Nos. 5, 6 and 7."

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The reputed commentator highlighted that the most successful team in the IPL had almost all their bases covered earlier. Chopra elaborated:

"Because of that, they achieved a lot of success. At the top of the order also, they had either Ishan Kishan or Quinton de Kock with Rohit Sharma or both. Both of them keep as well, they are explosive left-handed batters."

Aakash Chopra concluded by saying that the franchise will have to alter their gameplan as they are unlikely to be able to put together an equally formidable side. He explained:

"Will you be able to assemble all of them again, it won't happen. It's impossible because this is a big auction. The demand is more, the supply is also more but people have a lot of budget as well and a lot of teams have more than Mumbai. So I feel strategy will get changed slightly, their way of playing might change."

The Mumbai Indians, along with the Delhi Capitals, might be the most aggrieved side because of the mega auction. The two franchises had assembled a formidable squad with an excellent blend of youth and experience but will have to start almost from scratch again.