IPL 2020: 3 factors that could help Mumbai Indians defend their title
Despite being led by Sachin Tendulkar, and having greats like Sanath Jayasuriya, Zaheer Khan and Shaun Pollock in their midst, Mumbai Indians failed to impress in the first few years in the competition. They were eliminated in 2008 and 2009 in the group stage before going down to Chennai Super Kings in the 2010 final.
After getting ousted at the playoff stage in 2011 and 2012, the tide finally turned for Mumbai Indians, under Rohit Sharma’s astute leadership, in 2013. They beat Chennai Super Kings in the final by 23 runs, and since then have been a different team altogether.
Mumbai won the tournament three more times, every alternate year, in 2015, 2017 and 2019, each time with Rohit at the helm. MI are the most successful team in the IPL with four trophies to their name.
They will, however, be keen to break the sequence of alternate wins by clinching the crown in 2020. Here’s a closer look at the elements that could help MI do the same.
#1 Versatility in batting
Versatility has been one of the key factors behind Rohit’s MI becoming IPL’s most successful franchise. And their batting is the biggest evidence of that.
Rohit himself is one of the biggest and cleanest strikers of the cricket ball, and on his day can single-handedly lead the team to triumph.
Suryakumar Yadav has been consistency personified for Mumbai, and has been unlucky not to have been picked for national duty yet. He has been the backbone of MI’s batting over the last two seasons, with 512 and 424 runs respectively - both times at a strike rate of over 130.
Yadav’s mature head has won Mumbai a few close encounters, as he can change his game as per the demands of the situation.
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MI also have the aggressive Chris Lynn in their ranks this time, who was surprisingly released by KKR prior to the auctions. Lynn smashed 491 and 405 runs for Kolkata in 2018 and 2019 respectively at a strike rate of 130.23 and 139.65.
Further, there is also South African Quinton de Kock, who can put to the sword any attack in the world on his day. De Kock had an excellent 2019 with 529 runs in 16 games at a strike rate of 132.91.