IPL 7: Season Preview - Building up to the start of Mumbai Indians' title defence
Title defence is going to be a formidable proposition
The defending IPL champions, Mumbai Indians (MI), go into the 7th edition of the Indian Premier League with a massive revamp to their title winning squad. Although the nucleus of the MI squad has been retained, there were a few ridiculous moves in the IPL auctions that sees the Ambani-owned IPL franchise a bit weak on paper. Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar, who retired from the IPL after the conclusion of the last season, has been named as the icon of the franchise.
Mumbai Indians are possibly the Manchester City of the Indian Premier League: the MI bunch pack a punch, sumptuous on the eye with the dark blue jersey and gold stripes over it, and have always had the luxury of spending big when it comes to bringing the marquee players into the set-up. In addition to a couple of Champions League crowns, winning the IPL title last time surely makes them the second-best IPL team in history, next to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). And I wouldn’t rule out a successful title defence, which depends on a good start to the campaign.
Composition of the squad
I am a firm believer that irrespective of who comes in place of whom, the performance levels and the utility factor cannot be a carbon copy of each other. Even though a massive player like Michael Hussey might be a straight swap for the marauding Caribbean, Dwayne Smith, I still believe that the southpaw from Western Australia will struggle to emulate the role that was played to perfection by the man who has now been sold to CSK. It should be intriguing to see how this change in personnel works out for MI.
Michael Hussey – part of the Mumbai Indians’ family now
But as it stands, Michael Hussey will have the responsibility of getting the team off to a good start and then hold the innings together at one end. When the season returns to India on the 2nd of May, he’ll enjoy similar pace and bounce at the Wankhede to that of the Australian pitches.
With the Delhi Daredevils picking up Dinesh Karthik, MI might have a conundrum as to whether they play a specialist keeper in Aditya Tare or give the burden of keeping wickets to Ambati Rayudu, who isn’t a natural with the wicket-keeping gloves. I believe that Aditya Tare, following his decent showing in the last IPL campaign during Tendulkar’s time out with injury, might be the ideal foil for Michael Hussey. The left and right-hand batting combination at the top should be the way to go, and Tare deserves to be given a longer run in the side.
2nd season as MI’s captain will be a massive challenge for Rohit Sharma
The No. 3 slot in the Mumbai Indians’ batting order will have no takers, with the presence of talismanic Mumbaikar Rohit Sharma. As a skipper, he was spot on with his on-field decisions most times, and his exploits with the bat was a massive factor in MI’s title winning campaign. He dictated the pace of the innings for MI with the bat and was reliable right throughout the season. Rohit will once again take up the mantle of leading the side and also have a major role to play as a batsman.
The No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 batting positions in the T20 format are always dependent on the kind of start rendered by the openers at the top. Mumbai Indians have had the luxury of Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard to turn to depending on the state of the game. And I can’t see it being any different this time around. Pollard will once again be a key player in the MI scheme of things, both as a middle-order batsman and a highly reliable medium pacer at any stage of a T20 innings.