IPL 2019 Team Preview: Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians would be gearing up for another season of IPL with a team that at least on paper looks like it could go all the way. They're led by the vice-captain of the Indian national team, Rohit Sharma and one thing that Mumbai Indians would be wary of more than anything is the slow start that they usually suffer from in every tournament. What would be interesting as well to see is the effect the looming World Cup would have on the squads.
Strengths
Mumbai Indians is a team that is probably going to be one of the more well-rounded in the tournament. They have good top order, middle order and lower order with players capable of playing in all situations.
But what is probably going to be their biggest strength is their group of all-rounders in Pandya brothers, Ben Cutting and Keiron Pollard(Cutting will probably get the nod over Pollard in the playing XI). In these 4, Mumbai has players which would contribute ably with both bat and ball consistently and take away the game. These players could be the difference between Mumbai and the rest of the teams.
Weakness
Mumbai Indians' inability to get things rolling at the start is probably going to be their biggest weakness by the look of things. It has happened way too many times that the team has been chasing the 8-ball after a slow start in the tournament. Other than that, they'll need to zero in on the perfect combination early in the tournament. Mumbai Indians have as many as 4 players(Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Evin Lewis and Quinton de Kock) who could open the batting. With a problem of plenty across the board, MI will need to sort out their playing combination in the first few games.
Key Players
Rohit Sharma is going to be the player around which the whole team would revolve. On the other hand, if the Pandya brothers have a great IPL, you should expect Mumbai to reach the semis pretty easily. It would be interesting to see what role Yuvraj Singh plays in the tournament.
Squad
Rohit Sharma, Anmolpreet Singh, Jason Behrendorff, Jasprit Bumrah, Rahul Chahar, Ben Cutting, Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Pankaj Jaiswal, Siddhesh Lad, Evin Lewis, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga, Mayank Markande, Adam Milne, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Rasikh Salam, Barinder Sran, Aditya Tare, Anukul Roy, Jayant Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, Suryakumar Yadav
Prediction
Mumbai Indians, unless they stutter massively at the start of the tournament, are a surety to make the top 4 and should be one of the title contenders in the elimination stages.