5 Overseas players Mumbai Indians might drop ahead of IPL 2019
At the start of the tournament, Mumbai Indians looked a settled side as they retained their core group from previous successful campaigns. But as the IPL progressed, the weak links in their side got exposed and they could only manage six wins in 14 matches.
If you take a close look at the numbers of the Mumbai Indians players, it can be seen that the majority has done decently well. In the batting department, as many as 6 Mumbai Indians batsmen have scored more than 200 runs, next only to KKR's 7. In the bowling department, they have taken the most number of wickets, 92, in the league stage.
Then why did the defending champions fail? The answer is simple. Out of the seven different overseas players used by Mumbai Indians, only two players have performed decently.
If Mumbai Indians want to win the title next year, here are the overseas players that they should drop ahead of the next season:
#1 Kieron Pollard
Kieron Pollard played a key role in all the Mumbai Indians' title wins but lately, he has been out of form. In spite of his form issues, Mumbai Indians used the RTM card to retain the Trinidadian but he did not meet expectations.
As predicted by many before the season started, Pollard's performance this year was in no way close to the standards set by him previously. Barring the 23-ball 50 against Kings XI Punjab, he made only 83 runs off 77 deliveries i.e. at a strike of 107.79 in the other seven innings.
With the Indian players performing decently, the Mumbai management took the risk of playing him on nine occasions, but the gamble did not pay off. Pollard, who used to be the finisher in previous seasons, failed to deliver more often than not and that led to the downfall of last year's champions.
With him not performing this season, Pollard might find it hard to regain the lost faith anytime soon.