Former India batter Aakash Chopra has picked Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant as the players in focus in the match between the Mumbai
Indians (MI) and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). He added that Rohit has not only struggled in his first three innings but also had a
poor form in the latter half of IPL 2024 as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “R and R, do something, my friends. I am talking about Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant. Unfortunately, both have had a very ordinary start to the year. If we talk about Rohit Sharma, he is coming as an Impact Player, and I am not liking it. I feel he should be on the ground, especially when you are chasing. I don’t care when you bat first.”
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“If openers come as Impact Players in the second innings, I feel you are already slightly off from the game. You have the pedigree to capture this team’s bowling, but the runs have dried up. He has scored 21 runs in total in his last three matches. Rohit Sharma has scored 141 runs in his last 10 innings for the Mumbai Indians. He has just one 20-plus score, and that’s not a good thing,” he again added.
However, Aakash Chopra also wondered whether Rishabh Pant’s game is getting adversely impacted due to the huge amount (₹27 crore) he got at the IPL 2025 auction.
“Rishabh Pant, on the other hand, the question is whether the price-tag pressure is troubling him. You and I will never know. I have never seen ₹27 crore. With my limited experience with regards to money, I can say that once you enter the ground, the money you were bought for doesn’t matter. You just need to see the ball and react. However, he has played a few bad shots. One that he played against Kuldeep Yadav, and then against Glenn Maxwell in the last match. Take a little time, my brother. People were discussing whether he should open, but he hasn’t come up the order. No one can remove Nicholas Pooran now and shouldn’t as well,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
