Great things are expected of Mumbai Indians every single year before the start of the IPL, this year being no different. However, in the previous season, they flattered to deceive big time. Inspite of having an extremely strong squad, Mumbai Indians were unable to make the play-offs.
To compensate for the poor showing in the previous year, MI firstly did away with almost half the international players in the squad. Post this, they got in Malinga, Yuvraj and Sran and a few other Indian players in the auctions. Malinga being the only international player purchased. Quinton de Kock, the other international to join the squad, was part of a trade deal done with RCB.
Team after 2019 Player Auction
In:- Quinton de Kock(traded), Yuvraj Singh, Anmolpreet Singh, P Jaswal, Rasikh Dar, Barinder Sran, Lasith Malinga
Out:- Mustafizur Rahman, Pat Cummins, Akila Danajaya, JP Duminy, Saurabh Tiwary, Tajinder Singh, Mohsin Khan, Pradeep Sangwan, MD Nidheesh, Sharad Lumba
Strengths
Rohit will be batting at the position where he has been at his best, i.e opening the batting. He has been sensational at the top and if he manages to get going right from the start and with an explosive middle order to follow, MI should go all the way in the tournament.
The presence of 4 high quality all-rounders in the starting XI. In Pollard, Cutting and the Pandya brothers, MI have players who can win them games from any position, either with their batting or with their bowling. Not to forget, each one of them is an exceptional fielder as well!
MI have taken care so as to ensure that in addition to having a top quality first XI, they also have quality back-ups for each postion. So an injury here or there should not have a huge impact.
de Kock has been in fine nick in the series against South Africa. If he can continue his rich vein of form alongside Rohit, and with the explosive batting line-up to follow, MI will be confident of chasing or setting huge totals.
Weakness
Tendency to play catch-up in the league phase. In my last year’s article on MI’s squad, this was the exact thing I thought was MI’s weakness and I still continue to do so. The major reason for their failure last season was their inability to register wins in the first 4-5 rounds and by the time they raised their game the season was almost over for them. They will need to ensure that they hit the ground running on a positive note right from the word go.
Predicted Starting XI
Quinton de Kock(wk)
Rohit Sharma(c)
Suryakumar Yadav
Krunal Pandya
Hardik Pandya
Keiron Pollard
Ben Cutting
Jayant Yadav
Mitchell McCleneghan/Lasith Malinga
Mayank Markande
Jasprit Bumrah
MI have won all their titles in odd years(2013,2015 and 2017), so this could well be their year!!
On a serious note, with the amount of talent at their disposal, they should not finish anywhere less than the top two. Making a good start in the league holds key to MI’s performance in this IPL.
Expected position in the league table: Play-offs