IPL 7 Team Profile: Mumbai Indians

The Champions. That title almost feels like a punishment when you have to rebuild your entire team immediately after. Sachin’s retirement did not help either. They held on to 5 players but had to let go of two heavy contributors from last season – Dinesh Karthik and Mitchell Johnson. With no world class wicket keepers and Malinga’s most certain unavailability due to Sri Lanka’s international commitments in May, there is no doubt that those two will be missed.
They still have a formidable batting line up with the likes of Michael Hussey and Corey Anderson supplementing the retained talents of Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard. Pollard and Anderson’s fitness is a concern as they are both coming off injuries. But expect them to finish the season strongly. Their primary concerns are a shortage of quality middle order options which would possibly lead them to playing multiple wicketkeepers or give all rounder Jalaj Saxena a look in.  Another option would be however to over-strengthen the bowling department already consisting of Malinga, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan and Ojha with last year’s surprise package Jasprit Bumrah, or the unknown quantity of Pawan Suyal and hope that they can restrict the opposition to a score lesser than what Hussey, Sharma and co. make.
Aditya Tare and CM Gautam will be given the unenviable task of making sure that Mumbai Indians do not miss Dinesh Karthik with the bat or the gloves. Whether they achieve that together or individually, will depend on the selection strategy that the Mumbai Indians eventually employ. A lot will be expected of bargain buys Josh Hazelwood, Merchant de Lange and Krishmar Santokie as they will likely be tasked with replacing Lasith Malinga for the Indian phase of this year’s tournament. They are all coming into the tournament in reasonably good form.
Pollard’s fitness permitting, this could be the season he is given more responsibility with the bat and pushed up the order to a no. 4 position. He has in the recent past shown that there is more to his batting than the big hits. He has shown the temperament and capability to pace his innings and given Mumbai’s shortage in the middle order, his contribution here could be a major factor in how far they go this season.
Probable starting XI: Michael Hussey, Aditya Tare, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Corey Anderson, CM Gautam, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Lasith Malinga/Josh Hazelwood, Pragyan Ojha.