IPL 2024 Auctions - Mumbai Indians

 

Welcome to another blog in the series where we discuss the IPL 2024 Auctions. This time, we will be discussing Mumbai Indians(MI) and see what their playing XI can look like.

Mumbai Indians (MI)

Mumbai Indians has been one of the most successful IPL franchise of all time. They have won IPL 5 times and have had some of the legendary cricketers represent the side. Led by their captain, Rohit Sharma, they won the title in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. With a strong side once again, they would look to add another feather in their cap this year. However, they have a new skipper in form of Hardik Pandya and it will be interesting to see if he can produce same kind of results as Rohit Sharma has given over the years. 

IPL 2023 PERFORMANCE

In 2023 season, MI was able to reach the playoffs after 8 wins in the 14 games. They also won the eliminator against LSG but lost the qualifier 2 against CSK. Overall, their campaign was dominated by their batsman with Suryakumar Yadav having another brilliant season finishing with over 600 runs. He was well supported by other batsman like Cameron Green, Ishan Kishan and Tilak Verma among others. However, their bowling woes were apparent who were without the services of Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer. Their bowlers showed glimpses of brilliance with likes of Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff and Akash Madhwal having few good games but they would like to improve upon their bowling performance as a whole unit this season.

IPL 2024 AUCTIONS

The biggest news from MI camp this year was the trade in of Hardik Pandya from GT and him also getting appointed as captain instead of Rohit Sharma. This came in as a shock for cricket fans all around the world, considering the success that MI has had under his leadership over the years, winning the coveted trophy 5 times. They might be looking towards Hardik as the next permanent captain of the franchise for next 7-8 years. Apart from this, they traded out most of their overseas players including the trade deal of Aussie all rounder Cameron Green to RCB for 17.5 cr. But they managed to retain the most of their core team and were pretty smart going into the auctions and were able to get some great value picks who should strengthen their side quite a bit. 

 

Released Players: Mohd. Arshad Khan, Ramandeep Singh, Hrithik Shokeen, Raghav Goyal, Jofra Archer, Tristan Stubbs, Duan Jansen, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Chris Jordan, Sandeep Warrier, Cameron Green(traded to RCB)

Full Squad: Ishan Kishan, Vishnu Vinod, Rohit Sharma, Tim David , Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Dewald Brevis, Hardik Pandya(c), Romario Shepherd, Nehal Wadhera, Shams Mulani, Gerald Coetzee, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma, Naman Dhir, Jasprit Bumrah, Jason Behrendorff, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Arjun Tendulkar, Piyush Chawla, Dilshan Madushanka, Nuwan Thushara, Anshul Kamboj, Shreyas Gopal.

Strongest Playing XI: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan(wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Mohammad Nabi, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Jason Behrendorff

 

Overall, the side of MI looks pretty well balanced. Their batting department looks very similar to last year which was their stronger suite in last edition as well. They can be expected to pile on runs against almost any kind of bowling attack and it will be well led at the top by Rohit Sharma. They have enough firepower to intimidate any bowling attack. They did address their bowling woes in this auctions as is evident from the slightly new look bowling attack which will be spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah. But they do seem to have balanced attack with six bowling options including Hardik Pandya. Addition of all rounders like Hardik Pandya and Mohammad Nabi will provide the balance to the team with plenty of bowling and batting options. Jason Behrendorff's role would be to bowl maximum overs at the start of the innings providing the flexibility of holding Bumrah for the death overs. Once again, the squad of MI looks pretty good and should be a good contender for trophy this year.

Areas Of Concern

• What kind of impact will a new skipper coming to the side have on their overall performance will be something to watch. Hardik, who although has shown great leadership skills in last two years for Gujarat Titans, will be in the limelight this year and how he shapes out as a captain and what impact will it have on his individual performance will be a key thing to watch.
• Their bowling attack is bit new in look and quite a lot of pressure would be on Jasprit Bumrah to lead the attack and win matches with the bowl. Will he get enough support from other bowlers as well would be something to watch out for. They had same problem last year as well where the bowlers were going for plenty of runs regularly.

Let me know your thoughts on this squad and playing XI in the comments below.