IPL 2018: How Rohit Sharma's men may lineup in the tournament opener

The 11th edition of IPL is nearing and there could not have been a better encounter to kick-off the season with the defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on the returning Chennai Super Kings.

Mumbai Indians are the most successful team in the IPL with 3 titles, all of them coming in the last 5 years.The credit for this must be given to their habit of assembling a strong squad every year. This year is no different with MI having a superb mix of players to choose from. Most of the players seem to pick themselves into the XI leaving a few spots left for grab.

Let us have a look at what the playing XI of Mumbai Indians would be in their highly anticipated opening clash against the CSK -

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Openers

There are not many who can hit the ball like Lewis does

#1 Evin Lewis

The swashbuckling opener from West Indies will definitely be opening the batting for the Mumbai Indians this year. Lewis has a strike rate of 155 and 2 hundreds to his name in the 14 international T20s he has played.

Add to this the great form that he has displayed in the World Cup qualifiers and Lewis is the just the kind of opener any T20 team would want.

#2 Ishan Kishan

Ishan Kishan has set his standards high after a good domestic season

Ishan Kishan has been successfully opening the batting for Jharkhand this year and has been a consistent performer across various domestic tournaments. MI has shelled out a whopping Rs. 6.2 crores for this 19-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman clearly indicating how highly they rate him.

Mumbai would be hoping he justifies his price tag with some clinical performance at the top of the order.

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