IPL 2019: Mumbai Indians (MI) Team Rating Explained

MI have a potential squad with a team rating of 8.45 for IPL 2019. However, can they get their hands on their fourth IPL trophy?

Mumbai Indians enjoy one of the best fan followings in the IPL. Their Marketing and PR activities have always been a talking point, and their recent documentary on Netflix was just another example. Even though Mumbai Indians had a poor IPL 2018 as they finished in the fifth position, Rohit Sharma inspired side can never be taken lightly.  

Coming to IPL 2019, we analyzed Mumbai Indians’ strengths and weaknesses for IPL 2019 in our previous article. Don’t forget to check that out. In this article, we will be focusing on rating the Mumbai Indians (MI) IPL 2019 squad in different categories, viz., Openers, Middle-order, All-rounders, Spinners, Pacers and Key backups in each category.

Please Note:

• We feel a perfect team combination would consist of two openers, three middle-order batsmen, one batting all-rounder, one bowling all-rounder, two spinners, two pacers and good backups in each category.
• Each category would have a maximum rating of 10 with a rating of 8 for key players and 2 for backups.

Right then, let’s look at the Mumbai Indians (MI) team rating for IPL 2019.

OPENERS:

Benchmark: David Warner (SRH)

Two Main Openers for MI: Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock

Good Backup Openers: Evin Lewis

Decent Backup Openers: Suryakumar Yadav

Mumbai Indians have one of the strongest opening combinations in the IPL. Last time, Evin Lewis and Suryakumar Yadav did an excellent job opening for MI. However, considering the changes made in their squad this time, the opening combination should get revised.

Rohit Sharma should be back to open the batting along with Quinton de Kock. Like last time, MI shouldn’t let his quality go waste by playing him in the middle-order considering the success he has had as an opener.

For his fabulous record as an opener, Rohit Sharma gets a rating of 3.75 out of 4.

Coming to the second opener, Evin Lewis is a fine player, but Quinton de Kock has more experience and has been in red hot form for SA recently. Hence, he should be the second opener. He also did a decent job last year for RCB as he scored a total of 201 runs from 8 innings at an average of 25.12 and a strike rate of 124.07.

For the potential and current form, QDK gets a rating of 3.25 out of 4.

The last year’s opening pair, Evin Lewis and Suryakumar Yadav provide for excellent backup options for MI.

Thus, MI get a rating of 2 out of 2 for the backup opening options.     

Overall, Mumbai Indians Openers Rating: 9/10

MIDDLE-ORDER:

Benchmark: Virat Kohli (RCB) and AB de Villiers (RCB)

Three Solid Middle-order Players for MI: Suryakumar Yadav, Yuvraj Singh, and Hardik Pandya

Good Backups: Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan

Decent Backups: Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh and Siddesh Lad

It is very difficult to predict the Mumbai Indians’ middle-order. Yuvraj Singh is a big name to leave him out. However, he hasn’t had the best of IPLs last year. Ishan Kishan has a lot of potential, but didn’t do that well last season. I feel Yuvraj Singh should get a game; initially at least.

For his potential and game-changing ability, Yuvraj Singh gets a rating of 2.25 out of 3.

Suryakumar Yadav was brilliant last year as an opener. In IPL 2018, he was MI’s leading run-scorer as he scored a total of 512 runs from 14 innings at an average of 36.57 and a strike rate of 133.33. However, considering he is a good middle-order player too, he should swap places with Rohit Sharma.

Anyway, he gets a rating of 2.25 out of 3 for being the middle-order batsman.

Hardik Pandya would once again have an important role to play as a batsman. Although he didn’t have a good IPL last year a batsman, he has all the potential to make it big this time.

For his potential and good performances over the years, Hardik Pandya gets a rating of 1.5 out of 2.

Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan can play in the middle-order if required. Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh and Siddesh Lad provide for decent backup options.

MI get a rating of 2 out of 2 for middle-order backup options.

Overall, Mumbai Indians Middle-order Rating: 7.75/10

ALL-ROUNDERS:

Benchmark: Andre Russel (KKR) as the batting all-rounder and Sunil Narine (KKR) as the bowling all-rounder 

Batting All-rounder for MI: Hardik Pandya

Bowling All-rounder for MI: Krunal Pandya

Batting All-rounder Backup: Keiron Pollard

Bowling All-rounder Backup: Ben Cutting

The Pandya brothers, Krunal and Hardik are excellent all-rounder options MI have. 

Krunal Pandya had a good IPL 2018 as he scored a total of 228 runs from 13 innings at an average of 22.8 and a strike rate of 145.22. As a bowler, he took 12 wickets from 13 innings at an average of 23.66 and an economy rate of 7.07.

Hardik too had a good IPL 2018 as he scored a total of 260 runs from 13 innings at an average of 28.88 and a strike rate of 133.33. As a bowler, he took a total of 18 wickets from 13 innings at an average of 21.16 and an economy rate of 8.92.

Considering their consistent performance over the years, both get a rating of 3.5 out of 4.

Coming to backups, Keiron Pollard provides for good batting all-rounder backup and Ben Cutting provides for good bowling all-rounder backup. The only issue is that Keiron Pollard does not bowl that often.

Hence, MI get a rating of 1.75 out of 2 for all-rounder backup options in IPL 2019.   

Overall, Mumbai Indians All-rounders Rating: 8.75/10

SPINNERS:

Benchmark: Rashid Khan (SRH)

Two Main Spinners for MI: Mayank Markhande and Krunal Pandya

Good Backup Spinners: None

Decent Backup Spinners: Rahul Chahar, Anukul Roy, and Pankaj Jaiswal

This is an area where MI spinners have the potential, but they lack experience. 

After beginning superbly in IPL 2018, Mayank Markhande had a poor second half. Overall, he took a total of 15 wickets from 14 innings at an average of 24.53 and an economy rate of 8.36.

However, for his potential and current domestic performances, he gets a rating of 3 out of 4.

Krunal does not a lot of variations like Chahal or Kuldeep, but is a good bowler. He had a good IPL 2018 as a bowler, but a lot is expected out of him this year as he is the senior-most spinner.

Krunal Pandya too gets a rating of 3 out of 4.

Coming to good backups, MI do not have anyone to rely on. The only options available with them are Anukul Roy, Rahul Chahar, and Pankaj Jaiswal. Thus, in case an injury happens to Markhande or Krunal, MI would be in a sort of bother. 

Thus, MI get a rating of 1.5 out of 2 for spin bowling backup options.

Overall, Mumbai Indians Spinners Rating: 7.5/10

PACERS:

Benchmark: Jasprit Bumrah (MI)

Two Main Pacers for MI: Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga

Good Backup Pacers: Mitchell McClenaghan, Jason Behrendorff and Adam Milne

Decent Backup Pacers: Barinder Sran and Rasikh Salam

Mumbai Indians have a fantastic pace bowling line-up. They have the world’s best-limited overs bowler, Jasprit Bumrah and the IPL veteran, Lasith Malinga as their leading pace bowlers.

Jasprit Bumrah has been tasting success in the last few years in all the forms of Cricket. He had a good IPL 2018 too accounting for 17 wickets from 14 innings at an average of 21.88 and an economy rate of 6.88.

At this moment, there isn’t any bowler who can challenge Bumrah in terms of consistently good performances.

Hence, being the benchmark, he gets a rating of 4 out of 4.

Lasith Malinga, on the other hand, didn’t get a chance to play in IPL 2018, but we all know what he is capable of. It might be a toss-up between him and McCleneghan for the second pace option, but considering Malinga’s experience, he should be tried initially. Malinga gets a rating of 3.25 out of 4.

Coming to the backups, Mumbai Indians have plenty of good options in the form of Mitchell McClenaghan, Jason Behrendorff and Adam Milne. They also have decent Indian pace bowling options in the form of Barinder Sran and Rasikh Salam.

Hence, MI get a rating of 2 out 2 for pace bowling backup options.  

Overall, Mumbai Indians Pacers Rating: 9.25/10

CONCLUSION:

Mumbai Indians have a fantastic squad, and would face some headache in terms of selecting their final playing XI. Their strengths are their openers, all-rounders, and pacers. If Mumbai Indians get the right players for the right position, they would be the team to beat.    

Assuming all players are available, an ideal Playing XI for Mumbai Indians would be:

Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Surya Kumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan/Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Keiron Pollard,  Ben Cutting, Mayank Markhande, Jasprit Bumrah, and Lasith Malinga.

Overall, Mumbai Indians get a team rating of 8.45/10

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