IPL 2020: Team Preview – Mumbai Indians

With four IPL titles in their bag, Mumbai Indians are without doubt one of the most formidable T20 sides in the world. Notorious for their slow start in the tournament, Rohit Sharma’s men are known to bounce back with vigour. Maintaining a strong core of players together for a long time, the Mumbai Paltan has forged its own legacy in the cricketing annals. The defending champions will be eager to break their odd-year winning streak and capture the title in the Middle East nation.

Squad:

Strengths:

The presence of five T20 cricket superstars makes this Mumbai line-up one to admire. While they have one of the greatest white-ball batsmen to open the innings in Rohit, they have one of the finest fast bowlers in Jaspreet Bumrah to dominate the opposition batting unit with. In the middle order, they have three destructive all-rounders in Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya. Their true strength lies in this loaded lower middle order which is not only capable of tearing down any bowling attack but also providing at least eight consistent overs with the ball.

Apart from having a strong starting 11, Mumbai Indians boast of a tremendous pool of reserves. The likes of Chris Lynn, Sherfane Rutherford, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jayant Yadav and James Pattinson are likely to be optimised in specific conditions and against specific opposition. In case of injuries, Mumbai Indians possess enough backups to remain formidable in the competition. Lasith Malinga’s absence is a huge factor but the Blue team has enough power in their pace tank.

Weaknesses

While the defending champions seem to have covered most aspects, one telling aspect of the game remains vulnerable. Mumbai Indians do not have a specialist spinner who can boast of considerable international experience. Their lead spinner in this year’s campaign will be Rahul Chahar. The leg-spinner from Rajasthan has played only one T20I for India. The backups, Jayant Yadav and Prince Balwant Rai Singh, are not too encouraging either.

Chahar and Krunal did fairly well in the winning campaign of 2019 but on these UAE pitches, they will be the leading strike-bowlers for their team unlike in India. Rohit Sharma will need his spinners to step up to the plate if they are to succeed in this year’s campaign.

Strongest playing XI

Quinton de Kock* (wk), Rohit Sharma (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard*, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult*, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell McClenaghan*.

With such a power-packed presence of Indian cricketers, Mumbai can afford to play with two overseas pace bowlers. The Kiwi left-arm pair of Trent Boult and Mitchell McClenaghan can complement the right-arm pace of Bumrah. MI kick-off their campaign against Chennai Super Kings in the tournament’s opening game.

Team fixtures