There was a time when the Mumbai Indians could call upon so many match-winners that teams didn’t quite know who to plan for. On a day, Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, the Pandya Brothers, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult or someone else could take them to victory.
In essence, it was the perfect team for the format. Everyone was capable of great cameos and someone would always be ready to put the hand up when the team needed. They had allrounders to lend great balance to the squad regardless of the conditions. And to top it all, they kept adding valuable pieces to the equation. You just knew that if Mumbai were on their game, there was no stopping them.
But post the IPL 2022 Auction, there are some clear gaps that opponents will be looking to exploit. The difference in quality isn’t as clear as it was before and MI clearly have some squad rebuilding to do. They spent big on Jofra Archer despite knowing that he won’t be available for the coming season and they also went big on Tim David, who will looked upon to fill the finisher’s slot. The big payout was for Ishan Kishan and MI will dearly hope he can rise to the challenge.
| Full name | Price (Rs cr) | Times over base price | Country | State Association | Age | Specialism | 2021 Team | C/U/A | Base |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ishan Kishan | 15.25 | 7.63 | India | JSCA | 23 | WICKETKEEPER | MI | Capped | 200 |
| Tim David | 8.25 | 20.63 | Australia | 26 | ALL-ROUNDER | RCB | Uncapped | 40 | |
| Jofra Archer | 8.00 | 4.00 | England | 27 | ALL-ROUNDER | RR | Capped | 200 | |
| Dewald Brevis | 3.00 | 15.00 | South Africa | 18 | BATSMAN | Uncapped | 20 | ||
| Daniel Sams | 2.60 | 2.60 | Australia | 29 | ALL-ROUNDER | RCB | Capped | 100 | |
| N. Tilak Varma | 1.70 | 8.50 | India | HYCA | 19 | ALL-ROUNDER | Uncapped | 20 | |
| Murugan Ashwin | 1.60 | 8.00 | India | TNCA | 31 | BOWLER | PBKS | Uncapped | 20 |
| Tymal Mills | 1.50 | 1.50 | England | 29 | BOWLER | Capped | 100 | ||
| Jaydev Unadkat | 1.30 | 1.73 | India | SCA | 30 | BOWLER | RR | Capped | 75 |
| Riley Meredith | 1.00 | 1.00 | Australia | 25 | BOWLER | PBKS | Capped | 100 | |
| Fabian Allen | 0.75 | 1.00 | West Indies | 26 | ALL-ROUNDER | Capped | 75 | ||
| Mayank Markande | 0.65 | 1.30 | India | PCA | 24 | BOWLER | RR | Capped | 50 |
| Sanjay Yadav | 0.50 | 2.50 | India | TNCA | 26 | ALL-ROUNDER | Uncapped | 20 | |
| Basil Thampi | 0.30 | 1.00 | India | KCA | 28 | BOWLER | SRH | Uncapped | 30 |
| Arjun Tendulkar | 0.30 | 1.50 | India | MCA | 22 | ALL-ROUNDER | MI | Uncapped | 20 |
| Anmolpreet Singh | 0.20 | 1.00 | India | PCA | 24 | BATSMAN | MI | Uncapped | 20 |
| Ramandeep Singh | 0.20 | 1.00 | India | PCA | 24 | ALL-ROUNDER | Uncapped | 20 | |
| Aryan Juyal | 0.20 | 1.00 | India | UPCA | 20 | WICKETKEEPER | Uncapped | 20 | |
| Rahul Buddhi | 0.20 | 1.00 | India | HYCA | 24 | BATSMAN | Uncapped | 20 | |
| Hrithik Shokeen | 0.20 | 1.00 | India | DDCA | 21 | ALL-ROUNDER | Uncapped | 20 | |
| Mohd. Arshad Khan | 0.20 | 1.00 | India | MPCA | 24 | ALL-ROUNDER | Uncapped | 20 |
Possible Best Playing XI
MI have some big match-winners in the mix but then they also have a few big punts they will have to take. Will the young Dewald Brevis be able to make the jump to senior level right away? Will Tim David figure things out in the IPL too? Will Sanjay Yadav and M Ashwin bring them the ‘spin’ wickets they need? And finally will Jaydev Unadkat and Tymal Mills give Jasprit Bumrah the support he deserves?
| MI | Price (Rs crore) | Overseas | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rohit Sharma | 16 | |
| 2 | Ishan Kishan | 15.25 | |
| 3 | Suryakumar Yadav | 8 | |
| 4 | Dewald Brevis | 3 | OS |
| 5 | Kieron Pollard | 6 | OS |
| 6 | Tim David | 8.25 | OS |
| 7 | Sanjay Yadav | 0.5 | |
| 8 | M Ashwin | 1.6 | |
| 9 | Jaydev Unadkat | 1.3 | |
| 10 | Jasprit Bumrah | 12 | |
| 11 | Tymal Mills | 1.5 | OS |
| 12 | Daniel Sams | 2.6 | OS |
| 13 | Riley Meredith | 1 | OS |
| 14 | Mayank Markande | 0.65 | |
| 15 | N Tilak Varma | 1.7 | |
| 16 | Basil Thampi | 0.3 | |
| 17 | Anmolpreet Singh | 0.2 | |
| 18 | Ramandeep Singh | 0.2 | |
| 19 | Aryan Juyal | 0.2 | |
| 20 | Fabian Allen | 0.75 | OS |
| 21 | Rahul Buddhi | 0.2 | |
| 22 | Hrithik Shokeen | 0.2 | |
| 23 | Mohd. Arshad Khan | 0.2 | |
| 24 | Arjun Tendulkar | 0.3 | |
| 25 | Jofra Archer | 8 | OS |
| REMAINING PURSE | 0.1 |
Strengths
The biggest strength for MI is having players of proven quality. They are the most successful team in the IPL (titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020) for a reason and they will count on the experienced pros to come to the party. The backroom staff led by Mahela Jayawardene understand the format well and their plans tend to work.
The MI veterans can set the benchmark and pull the newcomers into the MI way of doing things. Sharma, Pollard, Surya are all match-winners in their own right and if Ishan can discover his best form, this is not a batting order anyone would like to mess with it.
Bumrah and Tymal Mills are very good death-over bowlers and Unadkat can be tasked with taking wickets early in the innings as Boult used to do. The pace bowling line-up is experienced and that should stand out in pressure situations.
MI tend to stick to their plan and back their players. They are not prone to too much cutting and chopping and that too will help the new players settle in. Given that all teams will be looking to find their best combinations, MI’s calm leadership will definitely make a difference.
And while talking about leadership, it is impossible to not mention what Sharma brings to the table. In T20s, the captain can play a very important role. The timing of bowling changes is vital and Sharma invariably gets that right. He also doesn’t get too flustered when things aren’t going well for his team.
Weaknesses
The big obvious weakness is going to be the spin department. Mumbai had Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya to fall back on previously and they could even bring in Jayant Yadav if needed but they don’t have the proven performers to fall back on this time around. Opposition teams will look to attack them in the middle overs and that could hurt them.
Pollard can be a dangerous hitter but in the past few seasons, he could go after the opposition bowlers because he trusted what Hardik Pandya was bringing to the table too. Tim David is a bit of an unknown in that sense and it will be interesting to see whether things work out for him on Indian pitches as well.
The other weakness could be Archer, who has had injury troubles for a while. MI have invested a lot in him but he won’t be available in the coming season and the manner of his recovery cannot be predicted. This might work out eventually but for the moment, it means MI are without a solid bowling option that they could have used right away.
Who’s saying what
MI owner Akash Ambani: “If someone had told us that we would walk out of the auction with Ishan Kishan and Jofra Archer, I wouldn’t have believed it. Getting Ishan back, lot of people told us it is never going to happen.”
Zaheer Khan, who is the Director of Cricket Operations: “Look, a left-armer does bring a different angle and that does work as an added advantage, so we were looking at left-armers in particular and I am glad that it all worked out. We did get four of the certain left-handers which went out of our reach but we held our ground and made sure that we put up a squad together which we can definitely have a lot of hopes there.”
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