Ready to paint the country blue, again
MUMBAI INDIANS With a balanced squad and a huge coterie of support staff, the defending champions start this IPL as favourites again
Mumbai Indians have a pretty balanced squad and will start as one of the favourites yet again after bagging the title last season.
Having won the title three times, the most by any team in IPL, MI knows what it takes to be a champion.
Rohit Sharma may have had a disappointing time in South Africa in the longer format, but when it comes to IPL, his charisma is unmatchable. Calm and collected, Rohit leads the team from the front and is never shy of trying out new ideas on the field.
Besides retaining Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah, MI used the Right to Match card to rope in Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard, thus keeping the core of their first-team intact.
They have Ishan Kishan and Evin Lewis to provide explosive starts followed by a packed middle-order spearheaded by the skipper himself.
The pace bowling department boasts of impressive names like Mustafizur Rahman, Bumrah and Pat Cummins, who has been in rip-roaring form in South Africa.
Cummins will be a key to Mumbai Indians bowling this season. Besides, Bumrah has improved leaps and bounds in his bowling and has become an important part of Indian team in all formats.
He is known for his death-overs bowling and toe-crushing yorkers. Not to forget Rahman, the Bangladeshi speedster, who known for his deadly cutters.
MI will also look upon the Pandya brothers to give a power-packed performance. Hardik has established himself in the Indian team, while Krunal sparkled in his second season for MI last year. Mumbai Indians, however, lacks quality spinners.
Left arm spinner Anukul Roy, who was one of the stars of India’s under-19 world cup winning squad, will be the player to watch out for. Another young leg spinner, Rahul Chahar would be looking to make his mark.
MUMBAI: INDIAN PLAYERS OVERSEAS PLAYERS
Besides the vast experience that he brings, Sharma has explosive batting credentials. He was not among runs in South Africa in the longer format but regained form in the ODIs. He will hope to deliver the goods during the IPL.
Lasith Malinga might be in the dug-out but there won’t be any dearth of toe-crushing yorkers. A specialist in death-overs, Bumrah will be MI’s go-to man to clean up the top-order and disrupt solid partnerships.
He might have to sit out a few games given the pace department but the Bangladesh speedstar can pose quite a few problems to the opposition when he’s on song. His wily off-cutters are his most potent weapon.
He will be a vital cog given that he will be expected to provide quickfire knocks coming lower down the order. He has had a rapid growth with the national side, earning caps in all three formats in just 18 months.
One knock that defines Pollard’s explosive hitting is the 32-ball 60 in the 2013 IPL final that got MI their first title. He has aged a bit but is still capable of producing those knocks besides plugging in with a few vital overs.
With close to 2,000 IPL runs under his belt, Duminy is one of the smartest buys. Besides providing stability to the middle-order, he also provides the option of an extra bowler and has 23 wickets from 77 IPL games so far.
5th
2008
Winner
2013
Winner
2015
Winner
2017