IPL 2023: Aakash Chopra analyses Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians ahead of Qualifier 2

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra believes that Mumbai Indians will be a hard team to beat and also reminded that Gujarat Titans cannot be taken lightly as the Hardik Pandya-led has been very consistent in the ongoing IPL 2023. Notably, after losing to Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1, the defending champions will be taking on Mumbai Indians with the hope of making it to their second consecutive final.

Mumbai, on the other hand, have a staggering record in the playoffs. Thus, Chopra believes that the match is currently evenly poised and the team that plays better cricket on Friday, May 26 will emerge victorious and move to the finals to play against the four-time champions Chennai Super Kings.

“It will not be easy to beat Mumbai. Gujarat are also a good team. Don't take Gujarat lightly because they remained at No. 1 continuously throughout the tournament. Once they became No. 1, they didn't go down after that and qualified extremely easily,” Chopra stated on his YouTube channel.

“There was no pressure on them to win the last match. Others' fortunes were in their hands. So I feel it will be an extremely beautiful encounter. It is 50-50. I am not saying anything, whoever plays well should win, what difference does it make to us? We should get to see a good match,” the 45-year-old added.

Contest of the day would be Shami bowling to the two Mumbai Indians openers: Chopra

Gujarat Titans’ pacer Mohammed Shami has been remarkable this season. The cricketer has picked up 26 wickets in 15 matches and with that, he is currently leading the IPL Purple Cap race. Against Mumbai, the right-arm pacer would hope to keep up with the same form and as per Aakash Chopra, his rivalry with MI batters in the powerplay will be the contest to watch out for.

“For me, the contest of the day that you would want to watch attentively is Mohammad Shami bowling to the two Mumbai Indians openers. When both these teams met last time, Shami was bowling under lights but he didn't get a single wicket.

“However, if you had seen that spell, you would have said what a spell it was, that he should have got not one or two but four or five wickets. The batters weren't able to touch the ball with their bats but it wasn't his day, went wicketless. There was a catch in the end which Hardik Pandya dropped,” Chopra added.