Mumbai Indians were one of the franchises that made the headlines even before the 2024 IPL auction due to the controversial trade of Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans. While that in itself is a mystery, the ploy to appoint him as Rohit Sharma’s successor didn’t pay dividends. The Mukesh Ambani-owned franchise concluded the season as wooden spoon with eight points from fourteen matches, winning just four of them.
One of the significant reasons behind the undesirable results could be the transition of captaincy that didn’t go well with the fans. Even their home crowd turned against their back as newly appointed skipper, Hardik, received on-field hostile treatment. Although the all-rounder had very little to do with the management’s decision, it indirectly affected the team’s environment and performance, sparking constant debates in the IPL fraternity. But this is not the only aspect that went wayward with MI. The team faced major setbacks in the lead-up to the mega event with pacers Dilshan Madushanka and Jason Behrendorff sidelined due to injury. The last-minute replacements failed to meet the expectations leaving Jasprit Bumrah as the lone wolf in the hunt. In addition, MI’s openers lacked consistency, the finishers didn’t pay off and the spin department looked out of touch. However, there were a few positives in Naman Dhir, Nehal Wadhera, and Anshul Kamboj. Possibly, one of the three could well be in their RTM plans with one spot left following the retentions of Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, and Tilak Varma at INR 18 Cr, INR 16.35, INR 16.35 Cr, INR 16.30 Cr, and INR 8 Cr respectively.
Ahead of the retention rules, there was always speculation on whom Mumbai Indians would retain. Given the updated norms, the franchise has benefitted as their biggest five match-winners have been retained at a good value. While securing Jasprit Bumrah at INR 18 crore seems justified given his calibre, the retention of the promising Tilak Varma at INR 8 crore appears to be a steal. Having utilized INR 65 Crore on the retentions, the Mumbai-based unit is left with INR 55 Crore – the third-lowest heading to the auction after Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad. With Jayawardene back at the helm, it would be interesting to analyze MI’s strategy for the upcoming IPL auction in Riyadh.
Powerplay
Mumbai Indians were decent with the bat during the powerplay last season. They mustered 725 runs at a strike rate of 143.85 with a wickets/innings rate of 1.75 in this phase. While Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma’s form were topsy-turvy, the frequent promotion of Naman Dhir to capitalize on the field restrictions favoured them. On two occasions MI scored below 140 – 125/9 against RR at Wankhede and 139/7 against KKR at Eden Gardens, Kolkata – yet they managed to fetch 59 and 46-run powerplays in the respective games. With the gung-ho approach set inside the powerplay, the likes of Rahmanullah Gurbaz or Quinton de Kock could be an apt inclusion, provided if Kishan falls short of their budget. As a backup, they could aim for Tamil Nadu’s G Ajitesh or Pradosh Ranjan Paul, who bear similar qualities as Kerala’s Vishnu Vinod in the past.
Unlike their batting, MI’s bowling faltered during the powerplay phases. They bagged 23 wickets at an economy of 9.18 from 14 innings, six of which were snared by Bumrah. Opposition batters failed to neutralise the Indian spearhead in this phase, avoiding unnecessary risks against him. As a result, the supporting bowlers, Gerald Coetzee, Akash Madhwal, Luke Wood, Hardik Pandya, Romario Shepherd, and Kwena Maphaka, were taken to the cleaners and had terrible numbers in this phase. This has been MI’s problem since they released Trent Boult ahead of the 2022 mega auction.
So, what could be the solution? It’s pretty simple. The franchise has a history of preferring a specialist new ball left-handed pacer who could get early breakthroughs. Mitchell McClenaghan and Trent Boult perfected the role during their glorious seasons. The experiments of Daniel Sams, Luke Wood, Kwena Maphaka, and Arjun Tendulkar in the past three years have not yielded desirable results. While Jason Behrendorff looked promising in IPL 2023, injury ruled him out in the following edition. And MI, a unit that believes in setting up a core, might be tempted to rope in either Boult or Behrendorff to donn the new ball. In addition, the think tank might yearn for a pacer who could generate good pace and bounce at their home venue, and Kagiso Rabada could be the only candidate they target from the marquee list.
Switching attention to the middle overs phase, MI had poor numbers with the bat, scoring 1371 runs for the fall of 44 wickets across 14 innings. This means, MI lost at least three wickets on an average between overs 7-15. While Suryakumar Yadav blew hot and cold, Tilak Varma was the only positive apart from a few good knocks from Nehal Wadhera. Without a doubt, they will have to bolster their middle and lower middle order. Tim David scoring 241 runs across 14 innings didn’t do justice to the faith they put in as Kieron Pollard’s potential replacement. Certainly, they’ll have to look for some firepower in the lower middle order. David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Abhinav Manohar, Ashutosh Sharma, and Nitish Rana could be a few possible options they would look to explore.
If Mumbai’s batting during the middle overs phase was poor, their bowling was even terrible. They leaked the most runs in this phase among all franchises, having conceded 1507 runs at an economy of 9.82. This leads us to one of their primary flaws that’s been keeping for the last four years. The lack of a proper spinner and medium pacers with variations is something they’ve lacked. Piyush Chawla, 35 is no longer bankable while the likes of Romario Shepherd, Hardik, and Mohammad Nabi didn’t quite do the job. To solve this problem, the franchise will have to acquire the service of a good spinner. It won’t be surprising if they reinvest in Krunal Pandya and serve the fans with a Pandya brothers reunion; a duo that was instrumental in their four previous silverwares. Given their low budget, Suyash Sharma, Mayank Markande, or Noor Ahmad can be other useful additions to the spin department of MI. Pace-bowling all-rounders such as Azmatullah Omarzai, Marcus Stoinis, Manoj Bhandage, and Manvanth Kumar could be other favourable options suited for middle-order batting as well as bowling.
There were limited areas where the Mumbai Indians was spot on in the last season and the slog overs are certainly not in that list. As mentioned earlier, David failed to live up to his expectations, with 46* being his highest score. In the last three seasons with MI, he has never scored a fifty. If we talk about his primary role of finishing a chase or catalysing the team’s total at the last few overs, David has hardly been able to fill Pollard’s shoes. MI did try Mohammad Nabi and Romario Shepherd for the particular role but they were not backed enough to perform their routine task. For a change, MI should be looking at a proper no. 6 option who could exploit the slog overs phase. Miller, Stoinis, Sikandar Raza or Sherfane Rutherford can be a few options from the overseas lot. If filtered into Indian options, Karnataka’s Manvanth, Manohar, and Bhandage could be handy options apart from Asutosh who played a part in PBKS last season.
Mumbai’s woes in slog overs didn’t just restrict with the bat but they were equally poor with the ball in hand. Apart from Bumrah, the bowling department struggled big time. The likes of Shepherd, Wood, Madhwal, Maphaka and Coetzee were taken to the cleaners. The MI management will have to invest on someone who can vary the pace according to conditions and can bowl impressive yorkers. They might look to rope back Nuwan Thusara who was clinical at the cue end of the season. In addition, Nathan Ellis or Mustafizur Rahman could be handy options. Among the Indians they might look to get back or use the RTM card on either Akash Madhwal or Anshul Kamboj. T Natarajan and Mukesh Kumar can be targetted to form a core pace department. If looked into young prospects, Tamil Nadu’s Gurjapneet Singh and Karnataka left-armer Abhilash Shetty, who served as a net bowler to them last season could be few of the exciting prospects to don the MI jersey.
