5 reasons why Mumbai Indians could win the IPL this year
Mumbai Indians have been one of the better sides in the Indian Premier League, having won the IPL title a record three times and the now-defunct Champions League once.
Last season they finished fifth and hence they did not qualify for the playoffs. Their batting was a concern but now they have addressed this issue by adding useful recruits like Quinton de Kock, Yuvraj Singh. The experience of Yuvraj Singh in the middle will be handy for the side if he gets to play.
They have always had slow starts to the season but when it comes to crunch times, they somehow know to win almost every match and hence are pretty difficult to deal with pressure increasing by each passing game.
Let's take a closer look why they'll win the tournament.
#1 One of the most settled core groups among all franchises
Mumbai Indians have one of the most settled cores with many players being with the side for more than 5 seasons, which means the word 'togetherness' is well defined in the squad.
They have one of the most capable top order with the opening combination of Suryakumar Yadav and Evin Lewis working well last season.
#2 One of the most successful captains of IPL - Rohit Sharma
Since the time Sachin Tendulkar stepped down from captaincy in IPL 2012, the Mumbai-based franchise had been struggling to find a full-time captain, with none of the options being successful. But when Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy from the legend Ricky Ponting in 2013, fortunes changed for MI as he led the franchise to their first IPL trophy.
In the same season, the franchise won the now-defunct Champions League under his captaincy. The side also won in 2015 and 2017 season becoming the then-most successful team in IPL history.
Rohit Sharma's capability to extract the best from their players makes him flourish as a captain.