IPL 2019: Mumbai Indians playing XI without veteran Lasith Malinga
IPL 2019 is finally here. The Chennai Super Kings will face the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opener at Chennai, and there could be no better way to start the cricket carnival. It's a clash between the current Indian captain and a former Indian captain.
Every season, all the IPL teams face various issues like their key players getting injured, or withdrawing from the tournament at the last moment. Unfortunately, that is something which has not changed even in this season.
CSK faced a blow as the young South African star Lungi Ngidi ruled himself out of the IPL due to an injury. Earlier, a similar blow was received by the Kolkata Knight riders too, as Anrich Nortje was out of the IPL due to injury.
When the games are just about to begin, Mumbai Indians veteran Lasith Malinga has ruled himself out of the first six games. As per the requirement from the Sri Lankan board, any player who would like to play the World Cup 2019 should play the domestic ODI tournament, and so the Sri Lankan fast bowler has decided to take part in the same.
However, this might not be a huge blow for the Mumbai Indians as they are have a strong back-up bowling lineup. Here is a look at the Mumbai Indians playing XI without Malinga.
#1 Top order
Rohit Sharma has announced that he will open the innings for all the games this season. This is a big welcome move for the team's fans.
The Indian vice-captain has opened for MI in only 19 games across all the previous editions. But he has strong numbers as a T20I opener for the Indian team, and so it's a right call from Mumbai Indians to send him as an opener.
Quinton de Kock, who is set to join the team, will likely be the other opener. The South African opener is coming in on the back of a strong performance against Sri Lanka. These two can give the team a much needed push at the top.
West Indian opener Evin Lewis can be pushed to number three. He did well for Mumbai Indians in the last season.
The top three can make use of the power play overs to give the team an aggressive start.