MI IPL 2023 Preview: Mumbai Indians are the only team to win the Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy five times but had a horrific outing the last time around, finishing 10th in the 10-team table. Generally, when MI fails to qualify for playoffs, they go on to win the title the next season. They failed to reach the knockouts in 2016 and 2018 and won the title in 2017 and 2019. Their journey since winning back-to-back titles in 2020, however, have only gone downhill. They finished fifth in 2021 among eight teams and followed it up with their worst season in 2022; winning just four out of 14 games.
The mighty Mumbai are in the middle of a transition with the addition of young players like Tim David, Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs and Cameron Green this season. So some sort of blip was expected but what made the matter worse for them last season was a collective failure of the top players.
Kieron Pollard, who has retired now, scored just 144 runs in 11 matches, while the captain Rohit Sharma accumulated mere 268 runs with no fifties, his worst season ever. Rohit last got over 400 runs in 2019.
Rohit with his enviable record will continue to captain MI and hope to return to top form, but things are surely set to get messy in deciding the best playing XI as Jasprit Bumrah is set to miss the entire IPL 2023 with a back injury. Jhye Richardson is also out.
Jofra Archer will strengthen their pace bowling setup but do they have an Indian fast bowler to complement the English cricketer? Probably not and that will bring in Australian left-armer Jason Behrendorff into the equation, forcing MI to put hard-hitting Brevis and Stubbs on the bench.
Clearly, they will be forced to compromise on their batting.
While Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav were decent last season, MI coach Mark Boucher will hope for a lot more from his core players this season, besides hoping for a great debut from all-rounder Green, the second most expensive player in IPL history, to help the team solve the fast bowling conundrum.
Another thing that can help Mumbai is the return of the home-and-away format and the comforts of the Wankhede Stadium. The last time the league was played in its most usual format, MI won the title.
A side still in transition and still not entirely sure of their strongest XI, Mumbai Indians are expected to do better than last season, but winning the title will be a task too difficult.
Past performances:
Strongest possible XI:
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Cameron Green, Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff, Kumar Kartikeya, Hrithik Shokeen
Squad:
Rohit Sharma (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Tristan Stubbs, Vishnu Vinod, Cameron Green, Arjun Tendulkar, Ramandeep Singh, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Hrithik Shokeen, Arshad Khan, Duan Jansen, Piyush Chawla, Kumar Kartikeya, Raghav Goyal, Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal
Schedule:
2 April: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Mumbai Indians, Bengaluru
8 April: Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai
11 April: Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians, Delhi
16 April: Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight
18 April: Sunrisers Hyderabad v Mumbai Indians, Hyderabad
22 April: Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings, Mumbai
25 April: Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians, Ahmedabad
20 April: Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai
3 May: Punjab Kings vs Mumbai Indians, Mohali
6 May: Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians, Chennai
9 May: Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai
12 May: Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Titans, Mumbai
16 May: Lucknow Super Giants vs Mumbai Indians, Lucknow
21 May: Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai
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