"No one in this team wishes to score hundreds" - Aakash Chopra lauds Mumbai Indians' aggressive batting approach in IPL 2024 win vs RCB
Aakash Chopra has lauded the Mumbai Indians (MI) batters for playing aggressively and not looking for milestones in their IPL 2024 win against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
RCB set MI a 197-run target after being asked to bat first in Mumbai on Thursday, April 11. Hardik Pandya and company chased the seemingly challenging target down with seven wickets and 27 deliveries to spare to register a convincing win.
Reflecting on the Mumbai Indians' chase in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra noted that Ishan Kishan dominated his opening partnership with Rohit Sharma and didn't play for a century.
"Ishan Kishan started this time. Ishan had reached 20 and Rohit hadn't even opened his account. He hit fours and sixes all around the park. He was very, very good and aggressive. Ishan Kishan has now played three knocks where it has seemed that a big knock is loading," he elaborated (6:30).
"However, I don't think the Mumbai team is looking for big knocks because this team has so much depth and destructive ability in their batting. No one in this team wishes to score hundreds. They say that they will just come and hit, and hit so much that the opposing team gets scared," the former India opener added.
Kishan smashed 69 runs off just 34 balls, a knock studded with seven fours and five sixes. Rohit scored a slightly more sedate 24-ball 38 with the help of three fours and as many maximums.
"What a player he is" - Aakash Chopra on the Mumbai Indians' Suryakumar Yadav
![Suryakumar Yadav smoked 52 runs off just 19 balls. [P/C: iplt20.com]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/04/af8bb-17128989870800-1920.jpg?w=500)
Aakash Chopra praised the rest of the Mumbai Indians batters for following the same destructive approach after their openers' dismissals.
"Rohit Sharma got out. The catch Reece Topley took, seemed like it was the only way he could have gotten out. It didn't seem like Ishan Kishan would get out but he too got out. Then came Suryakumar Yadav - what a player he is," he observed (7:15).
"We have seen a lot of incredible batting in this tournament, from youngsters or Nicholas Pooran, but when Suryakumar Yadav hits, he hits differently. He reached his fifty off 17 balls and ultimately got out while hitting, but it didn't matter to him. Hardik Pandya - 21 runs off six balls. Tilak Varma felt he didn't enjoy it as he hit at a strike rate of 160.00," the cricketer-turned-commentator added.
Suryakumar Yadav smashed five fours and four sixes in his 52-run knock. While Hardik Pandya clubbed three sixes in his unbeaten six-ball 21, Tilak Varma struck three fours in his unbeaten 10-ball 16 to seal an emphatic win for the Mumbai Indians.