IPL 2019: Three tactics we can see from Mumbai Indians

The 12th season of the IPL is less than seven days away and all the fans are getting ready to witness some high-quality T20 cricket this summer. This season is a great opportunity for the youngsters to take the center stage as many of the overseas stars might be missing or leave early due to national duties. It’s the quality of the Indian talent that might decide the champion of this season.

Talking about Indian talent, Mumbai Indians is never short on that. MI has found out some of the great talents in India in the form of Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Krunal Pandya. Mayank Markande is the new name in the list. MI has all the resources, it’s just a question whether they can deliver as a team. History is with the Mumbai Indians as they have won in 2013, 2015 and 2017. Will the trend continue for the fourth time? Mumbai fans will be hoping so.

Mumbai has a really good captain in Rohit Sharma. He reads the game very well and believes in being ahead of the game. In the six seasons which he has captained he has always surprised the opposition with some new tactics. So let’s have a look at three surprising tactics which Mumbai could use this season.

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#3 Open the batting with Ishan Kishan

Ishan Kishan

Ishan Kishan batted in the middle order for the Mumbai Indians last year. He has opened the batting previously in the IPL but didn’t do it for MI last year. Mumbai already has three proper openers in Rohit Sharma, Evin Lewis, and Quinton de Kock to open the innings. It can’t be forgotten that Suryakumar Yadav was brilliant last year while opening the innings.

So if it is looked at logically, there is no way that MI would open with Kishan considering the fact that there is already a problem of plenty. But you don’t know what’s going on in Rohit's mind.

The young wicket-keeper from Jharkhand had a great time while opening the batting in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy as he smashed two centuries in the tournament. His terrific form might tempt the team management and Rohit to ask him to open the innings.

#2 Sending Mitchell McClenaghan as a pinch hitter

Mitchell McClenaghan

Mumbai Indians have used this tactic previously to surprise the opposition. They have promoted Mitchell McClenaghan up the order once in 2016 against KKR and again in 2017 against RCB. The tactic worked in MI’s favor when it was used for the first time as he smashed 20 runs in just 8 balls which included three sixes.

His job was to bring the required run-rate down and he did it perfectly. The second time it backfired as he was dismissed early by Samuel Badree. But still, the tactic is worth trying once again.

McClenaghan has the power to clear the rope and it doesn’t really matter if he gets out early because MI has the required batting depth. If he clicks, he can change the game in a matter of few overs. It would be interesting to see if MI uses this tactic to surprise the opposition.

#1 Bringing in an unknown uncapped player

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This is a tactic which the Mumbai Indians have used quite a few times. In 2013, they bought this young fast bowler from Gujarat. Two years later they bought in the future seam-bowling all-rounder of India. Hardik Pandya set the IPL on fire with his batting in his first season.

A year later, Hardik’s brother Krunal came into the picture. Not many knew about him and as a result, the opposing teams didn’t quite know what to do. Finally last year it was a short, slim leg-spinner from Punjab who surprised everybody. Mayank Markande hadn’t even played a lot of games for Punjab and suddenly he got a chance for MI. He had a really good season last year as he dismissed some high profile names in the league.

Mumbai Indians might do the same thing this year. There are a few unknown uncapped players in their team who are waiting to be the next Indian stars!