Mumbai Indians
Less than six months after lifting their record-extending fifth title to become the first Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise to successfully defend the crown, Mumbai Indians are all set to begin their 14th season in the tournament with the aim of scripting a hat-trick of trophy wins and adding to their rich legacy.
On paper, following the auction in Chennai in February, the team looks perfect and threatening - a batting lineup packed with power-hitters and a strong pace-bowling lineup, power-hitting, and wicket-taking all-round options, and sufficient and able back-ups for their preferred core XI. Indian great Sunil Gavaskar already reckons that Mumbai Indians will be a tough side to beat.
Yet, the defending champions have failed to cover one base - option for attacking spinners in the middle-overs - and that could pose as an obstacle in their yet another title-defending season.
Squad: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Adam Milne, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), James Neesham, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Quinton De Kock (wicket-keeper), Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Yudhvir Singh.
Daunting batting and pace-bowling lineup
Mumbai Indians had the best batting side in IPL 2020. While Sunrisers Hyderabad were at par with Mumbai, both making the most of the fielding restrictions to begin on a destructive note in the PowerPlay, the defending champions maintained their scoring rate and frequency of boundaries in the middle overs as well, recording the best numbers, before unleashing in the death, scoring at nearly 13 runs per over with boundaries every three balls.
The presence of Trent Boult with the new ball saw Mumbai Indians emerge as the only side to concede less than six runs an over in the powerplays with an impressive strike rate of 18.58. And the franchise was equally dominating in the death overs as well, conceding the least ever.
Where are the spinners
The only area of concern for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2020 was their lack of attacking spin-bowling options. And this could pose a problem for the team in venues like the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai where Mumbai will be playing as many as five games.
Left-hand spinner Krunal Pandya played all 16 matches for MI last season, but picked only six wickets in at an economy rate of 7.57. Rahul Chahar, a leg-spinner, played 15 games last season and bagged 15 wickets at an economy rate of 8.16. Right-arm off-spinner Jayant Yadav was the only other spinner to don the jersey last season, but was picked for only two games owing to match-ups. The spin issue has largely affected Mumbai Indians in the middle overs where they have conceded runs at almost 8 an over, fifth among all the eight teams.
Mumbai Indians roped in leggie Piyush Chawla in the Chennai auction in February, but the veteran registered an economy rate of 9.26 in the middle overs in the seven games he played last season, well more than Krunal's 7.89 and Chahar's 8.19.
Predicted playing XI
Ishan Kishan has been the fastest scoring openers since 2018, pulling off 8.66 runs per over and finding the ropes after every 4.52 deliveries. In the four innings he opened last season, Ishan scored at 8.72 runs per over. Ideally, the left-left combination of Quinton de Kock, who scored at 8.35 runs per over, and Ishan could give Mumbai the perfect start. But with World T20 in the next few months and Rohit Sharma's commitment towards the Indian team as an opener, the skipper would like to take his spot up the order, hence pushing Ishan down to No.4 and Suryakumar Yadav, fresh from his impressive debut series against England in the T20Is, will take the No.3 spot. The latter two have been one of the best middle-order batters in IPL since 2018, scoring at 8.3 and 8.18 runs per over and finding the rope every 5.82 and 5.22 balls.
These four will be followed by the destructive batting pair in the Pandya brothers and Kieron Pollard, with the veteran and Hardik having a strike rate of over 220 in the death overs while Krunal operates at a strike rate of 176.
Boult and Jasprit Bumrah will form their pace lineup along with one between all-rounders Nathan Coulter-Nile and James Neesham while Chahar will be the other spinner.
Predicted XI: Rohit, De Kock, SKY, Ishan, Pollard, Hardik, Krunal, NCN, Chahar, Boult, Bumrah,
