'Chennai are no longer Super Kings' - Aakash Chopra after MI decimates CSK

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has compared the game between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians to a contest between an international outfit and a club side. His comments have come after Mumbai Indians demolished CSK by ten wickets on Friday to move to the top of the points table with 7 wins from 10 games.

It was a no-contest as Mumbai thoroughly dominated the three-time IPL champions. Invited to bat first, the MS Dhoni-led side could only manage a paltry total of 114 for nine. At one stage, it looked like they would not even touch the 50-run mark after being reduced to 3 for 4 and then 21 for 5. But Sam Curran’s fighting knock of 52 gave some respectability to the scoreboard.

Mumbai Indians, in reply, chased down the modest total without breaking a sweat. Ishan Kishan, who was promoted as an opener in absence of Rohit Sharma, led the charge and slammed an unbeaten 68 from just 37 deliveries. The southpaw shared an unbeaten stand of 116 runs with Quinton de Kock to take Mumbai home inside 13 overs.

Chennai are no longer Super Kings: Aakash Chopra

Following the game, Aakash Chopra posted a video on his YouTube channel where he analyzed the game. The former cricketer-turned-commentator started by saying that CSK are no longer Super Kings after being decimated by the defending champions. He also defended the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and N Jagadeesan, saying that the CSK youngsters have not played too many games this season.

“Chennai are no longer Super Kings. Mumbai Indians have decimated CSK and reached the top of the table. CSK are still at the bottom of the table and almost out of the tournament,” said Aakash Chopra.

“When CSK came to bat, they gave chances to youngsters. I am not going to blame the youngsters as they have not played too many matches. Ruturaj Gaikwad got out in the first over, Ambati Rayudu was dismissed with a bouncer by Bumrah and Jagadeesan got out off the next ball. After that Faf also got out to make it 3/4,” he added.

Aakash Chopra further mentioned that the dismissals of Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni gave him an indication of the current mindset in the CSK camp. He stated that both the batsmen throwing away their wickets while going for big shots was ‘very unlike CSK’.

“After that Jadeja and Dhoni were together and those two dismissals changed everything for me, as far as I am concerned. Not that they would have made a huge score or not, that’s different.”

He reasoned that the duo threw away their wickets, which is something that CSK have not done often in the past.

“The way Jaddu got out off Boult’s bowling trying to hit a big shot and they lost 5 wickets in the powerplay and then Dhoni got out after hitting a six, very unlike CSK,” said Chopra.