IPL 2021 Expert's Corner: Sanjay Manjrekar pinpoints two weaknesses of defending champions Mumbai Indians

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar on Tuesday pinpointed two weaknesses of defending champions Mumbai Indians during his exclusive chat with India TV Cricket, ahead of the fifth match of the ongoing IPL 2021 between the five-time winners and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Manjrekar feels that Mumbai Indians have a far weaker spin-bowling attack compared to the other eight teams in the tournament. He then advised that Mumbai should mix spin with pace attack during their middle overs, where their economy rate of 7.95 last season was the fifth-best last season.

"If you've to pinpoint one weakness of MI, because they are the champions and are a match-winning side, it'll be their spin-bowling department, which I feel isn't great enough. They play either Krunal Pandya or Jayant Yadav or Rahul Chahar. I feel other teams have better spin attacks. They will hence need to mix it up well with pace attack during the middle overs and not just keep spinners for that phase," said Manjrekar.

The former cricketer also pointed out that whenever Mumbai lose the toss, implying batting first, they become more vulnerable. In T20s, Mumbai have a 55.7 per cent winning record while batting first and 61.8 when batting second, where they have lost 39 of the total 102 matches.

"Mumbai Indians have another weakness - when they lose the toss, defeating them becomes a bit easier. Mumbai Indians will hence face the pressure if Kolkata Knight Riders win the toss today," he added.