While we are still some way off the start of the next IPL season, the excitement for fans in regards to transfers and the auctions for IPL 12 has already begun with all the franchises releasing a list of the players that they are retaining and those which they are not. These announcements give us a clue as to the kind of direction the teams might be going in come March 2019 and also who they might look to sign during the main auction that is held next month.
Let's start with the Mumbai Indians (MI) who began the defence of their title last year with a terrible first half of the group stages and ultimately left themselves with too much to do. A lot of those early defeats were by very small margins so if Mumbai can regain a bit of focus and tweak their personnel a little then there is no reason to think that they won't be in the mix come the knockout stages this year. Indeed, if you are a believer in patterns within sporting results then you might just fancy backing MI who won the contest in 2013, 2015 and 2017. Surely then 2019 is their year?
The strong Indian core
Much of Mumbai's recent success has been built around a strong core of homegrown talent that includes captain Rohit Sharma, the 2 Pandya brothers and Jasprit Bumrah. Deciding where exactly Rohit Sharma should bat is a question that MI will have to solve. This is a man who has scored truckloads of runs for India in both in T20 & ODI cricket at the very top of the order and when he is on song there are few better to watch. He was generally carded to bat 4 last season although he would often promote himself to 3 if the situation required it. With the strength at the top of the order that MI possess including foreign imports Evin Lewis and Quinton De Kock (see below) and Suryakumar Yadav who was probably their most consistent performer last year it seems likely that Rohit will continue to bat a little further down.
The Pandya brothers all-round abilities offer the team great variety and depth to both their batting and bowling. While Krunal might not have the star qualities of his younger brother Hardik who seems a firm fixture within the all India's sides at present, I think he was one of if not the most valuable player for MI last season. His continued efforts in domestic cricket have finally lead to recognition at international level and this coming IPL will be a massive chance for him to stake a claim for a spot in India's World Cup squad this spring.
Explosive foreign imports
Quinton De Kock has been signed from RCB where he had a largely unsuccessful 2018 season. There is no doubting De Kock's talent but the last couple of years in general have not seen him hit the kind of heights that many were expecting him to have reached when he first burst onto the scene. His selection raises interesting questions about how MI will balance their team and who might miss out as a result of the restrictions on foreign players? If he and Evan Lewis who is also a very fine talent were to open for MI then that would leave just 2 spots for other foreign players. You feel that one of those is likely to go to either Kieron Pollard or Ben Cutting. Pollard was one of the most disappointing players in the IPL last season and I have to say that it's something of a surprise that MI have retained him. He couldn't buy a run, looked woefully short of form and no longer seems to bowl. Cutting, on the other hand, is a solid contributor in all departments and on his day can hit a ball as far as anyone. That would leave just one spot for a foreign fast bowler to play ...........
Pace aplenty
The area that MI look to be particularly well stocked in is the fast bowling department. They have released Aussie Pat Cummins who missed all last year through injury as well as The Fizz who is perhaps a little unlucky not to be given a new contract after some decent albeit less frequent showings in IPL 2018. In his place has come Jason Behrendorff who will provide a left-arm option alongside the long-serving Mitch McClenaghan who is something of a fans favourite. Jasprit Bumrah will no doubt be leading the attack and is particularly adept in the powerplay and back end of the innings with his yorkers and slower balls (see clips below). Seeing Bumrah line-up alongside Adam Milne will be a sight that most batsmen won't want to see as the young Kiwi has got some serious heat himself.
Room for improvement?
Perhaps the one obvious area that they might consider strengthening is the spin bowling department. MI put plenty of faith in youngster Mayank Markande last year and considering it was his debut season he performed admirably in returning 15 wickets in 14 matches. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, having a spinner (usually a wrist spinner) who can take you wickets in the middle overs of the game is crucial. Markande managed that at times last season but towards the end of the group stages, he was struggling to get the wickets that he did in the first couple of games. If nothing else having another option for MI would take some of the pressure off his young shoulders. If MI can find a wicket-taking spinner to sit alongside there fearsome looking pace attack and the all-round options of Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya and Ben Cutting then they might well have a side capable of continuing the sequence a mentioned above.
MI could also look to bolster their options in the middle order. It was strongly rumoured that they were after Shikar Dhawan from SRH but the Indian opener has now joined Delhi Daredevils instead. With JP Duminy having been released the MI squad does look a little top heavy with most of their batsmen favouring a role in the top 3 or 4. A man who can come in and sure things up at number 5 while also having the destructive power to keep the game moving when needed would be a real plus for them. Perhaps I'm biased but how about Eoin Morgan or even Joe Root to play that kind of a role? Both men have been crucial to England's recent success in white ball cricket and in the last few months as the form of the big hitters at the top of the order has slipped away, it has been one or both of these 2 guys that have ensured a big score is posted. Neither was picked up in last year's auction, both would only be available for the group stages this time around.
Mumbai themselves have already stated that they will be on the lookout for a raw homegrown fast bowling talent during next month's auction. Given the resources they already have in that department you would imagine that their game time would be limited but it would certainly be a great opportunity for a youngster to learn their trade alongside some of the biggest names in world cricket.
Given their current roster of players this would be my first choice 11 for MI
- Yadav
- Evans
- De Kock
- Rohit
- Kishan
- H Pandya
- K Pandya
- Cutting
- McClenaghan
- Bumrah
- Markande
Comments