Exclusive: Predicting Mumbai Indians’ Key Strategies for IPL 2020 Auction
Middle-order, the key focus area for Mumbai Indians as we predict their strategy for IPL 2020 Auction.
“2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019”, It has been a series of the alternate year win for the most successful side in the IPL history, the Mumbai Indians. So, going by the trend, should we expect a lacklustre performance from Mumbai Indians in IPL 2020? Well, it certainly doesn’t look that way looking at their current squad.
Just like the Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians have retained their core to the fullest with 6 strong overseas players. While they have released 10 players from their squad, most of them were surplus players that came in as a replacement for injured players.
Their list of released players includes 6 overseas players and 4 Indian players. The overseas players include Adam Milne, Jason Behrendorff, Alzarri Joseph, Beuran Hendricks, Ben Cutting, and Evin Lewis. The Indian players include Yuvraj Singh, Rasikh Dar, Barinder Sran, and Pankaj Jaswal.
Mumbai Indians’ retained squad before IPL 2020 Auction:
Total Retained Players: 18 | Total Purse Available: INR 1305L
Batsmen: Aditya Tare (WK), Anmolpreet Singh, Ishan Kishan (WK), Quinton de Kock (WK), Rohit Sharma (C), and Suryakumar Yadav.
All-rounders: Hardik Pandya, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, and Sherfane Rutherford.
Bowlers: Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell McCleneghan, Rahul Chahar, and Trent Boult.
If we have to analyze Mumbai Indians’ current squad, they look strong in almost every aspect barring a couple of categories, which may hamper their chances for IPL 2020.
So, what strategy Mumbai Indians need to adopt for the IPL 2020 Auction? Let’s find out in this article.
Revamping the Middle-order
Mumbai Indians have a terrific top-order with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, and Ishan Kishan. However, when we talk about the middle-order, they are not only short of good middle-order batsmen, but also backups in that category.
On face value, Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya make up for a good batting line-up. But, the problem is with Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav.
Suryakumar Yadav has been successful only as a top-order batsman in the IPL. While he is traditionally a middle-order batsman, Mumbai Indians should still not risk playing him down the order unless there are good relevant backups.
Ishan Kishan, on the other hand, lacks experience and maturity, and hasn’t set the tournament on fire as yet. So, it wouldn’t be wise to have both of them in the squad unless there are good backups to cover-up for their failure.
Considering they have INR 13 Cr. in their purse currently, they can spend this amount to buy quality overseas middle-order players. The list includes Eoin Morgan, David Miller, Glenn Maxwell, Shimron Hetmyer, Sam Billings, etc.
Purchase Relevant Backups
Looking at the current MI setup, they have only 18 players in their line-up including 6 overseas players. Going by the trend, MI would definitely purchase the rest 2 overseas players ( 2 Middle-order batsmen or a Middle-order batsman and a Spinner).
The rest 5 should include 1-2 good Indian backups for the middle-order category and 1-2 spinners as a backup to Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar. An additional Indian pacer should do well too.
Overall, Mumbai Indians look near to perfect ahead of IPL 2020 Auction. But, they need to address the above-mentioned gap at the IPL 2020 Auction to have another shot the trophy.
ALSO READ: IPL 2020: Final list of retained players of all the Teams before the Auction
Adesh Kothari is the founder of AK4Tsay1 Cricalytics.
Cricket to him is like what ‘Football is to Lionel Messi’, ‘Singing is to Lata Mangeshkar’, ‘Dancing is to Michael Jackson’, and what ‘Acting is to Clint Eastwood’.
Besides his effervescent love for Cricket, Adesh is an MBA by qualification.
