IPL 7: Season Preview - Building up to the start of Mumbai Indians' title defence

Title defence is going to be a formidable proposition

The defending IPL champions, Mumbai Indians (MI), go into the 7th edition of the Indian Premier League with a massive revamp to their title winning squad. Although the nucleus of the MI squad has been retained, there were a few ridiculous moves in the IPL auctions that sees the Ambani-owned IPL franchise a bit weak on paper. Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar, who retired from the IPL after the conclusion of the last season, has been named as the icon of the franchise.

Mumbai Indians are possibly the Manchester City of the Indian Premier League: the MI bunch pack a punch, sumptuous on the eye with the dark blue jersey and gold stripes over it, and have always had the luxury of spending big when it comes to bringing the marquee players into the set-up. In addition to a couple of Champions League crowns, winning the IPL title last time surely makes them the second-best IPL team in history, next to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). And I wouldn’t rule out a successful title defence, which depends on a good start to the campaign.

Composition of the squad

I am a firm believer that irrespective of who comes in place of whom, the performance levels and the utility factor cannot be a carbon copy of each other. Even though a massive player like Michael Hussey might be a straight swap for the marauding Caribbean, Dwayne Smith, I still believe that the southpaw from Western Australia will struggle to emulate the role that was played to perfection by the man who has now been sold to CSK. It should be intriguing to see how this change in personnel works out for MI.

Michael Hussey – part of the Mumbai Indians’ family now

But as it stands, Michael Hussey will have the responsibility of getting the team off to a good start and then hold the innings together at one end. When the season returns to India on the 2nd of May, he’ll enjoy similar pace and bounce at the Wankhede to that of the Australian pitches.

With the Delhi Daredevils picking up Dinesh Karthik, MI might have a conundrum as to whether they play a specialist keeper in Aditya Tare or give the burden of keeping wickets to Ambati Rayudu, who isn’t a natural with the wicket-keeping gloves. I believe that Aditya Tare, following his decent showing in the last IPL campaign during Tendulkar’s time out with injury, might be the ideal foil for Michael Hussey. The left and right-hand batting combination at the top should be the way to go, and Tare deserves to be given a longer run in the side.

2nd season as MI’s captain will be a massive challenge for Rohit Sharma

The No. 3 slot in the Mumbai Indians’ batting order will have no takers, with the presence of talismanic Mumbaikar Rohit Sharma. As a skipper, he was spot on with his on-field decisions most times, and his exploits with the bat was a massive factor in MI’s title winning campaign. He dictated the pace of the innings for MI with the bat and was reliable right throughout the season. Rohit will once again take up the mantle of leading the side and also have a major role to play as a batsman.

The No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 batting positions in the T20 format are always dependent on the kind of start rendered by the openers at the top. Mumbai Indians have had the luxury of Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard to turn to depending on the state of the game. And I can’t see it being any different this time around. Pollard will once again be a key player in the MI scheme of things, both as a middle-order batsman and a highly reliable medium pacer at any stage of a T20 innings.

Corey Anderson was probably the most valuable player available in this season’s IPL auctions. Ever since his international debut, he was in the radar of most IPL franchises, and I still think that it was a masterstroke on the part of the MI hierarchy to buy this hard-hitting left-hander from the Kiwi land. I am sure that he’s the kind of player you need in the T20 format of the game, and, without a smidgen of doubt, I can say that he will go on to pose a real challenge to the longest of hits ever struck in the history of the league. The No. 5 and No. 6 positions in the MI batting order could become a major toss up between Corey Anderson and Kieron Pollard.

Corey Anderson could be an invaluable addition to the MI setup

As far as the MI batting order is concerned, if the aforementioned top 6 take their respective places, it should make for an exciting batting unit to keep an eye on.

Bowling unit:

Harbhajan Singh should take his rightful place at No. 7 and will be a key component in the Mumbai Indians’ bowling attack. He has always relished the bounce that he gets at the Wankhede, and, with the season in India coming to a close and the Indian summer taking a toll on the fast bowlers, the turbanator will have a huge role to play as the lead spinner in the side.

Lasith Malinga will no doubt be buoyant after leading his country to a World T20 title and will once again be a major driving force in MI’s title defence. There’s no need of mentioning the prowess of ‘slinga’ Malinga when it comes to T20 cricket, and it’s good for the MI think-tank and supporters that he is still part of the set-up. Malinga and Harbhajan will be the two key personnels on the bowling front.

One of the contentious recruits of this IPL season was that of Zaheer Khan. The Indian fast bowler has been struggling with injuries, and has not been a regular part of the national side, so spending 2.6 crores on him was always going to be debatable. His return to MI, however, will see him team up with Malinga once again.

The No. 10 slot in the side is probably the biggest quandary as far as the MI think-tank is concerned. Playing Michael Hussey as a specialist batsman, Kieron Pollard and Corey Anderson as all-rounders, and giving Malinga his rightful place as a specialist seamer will make for the 4 allowed overseas players in the playing XI. And even if Pragyan Ojha is accommodated as the second specialist spinner, it does weaken the bowling line-up a bit.

If Ojha does play, it could well be Jasprit Bumrah who plays as the third seamer in the side.

MI don’t have a recognizable Indian bowler in the side, apart from Ojha and Harbhajan that is, and they could well be handicapped from using the lively pace of Marchant De Lange and Josh Hazlewood given the presence of much more accomplished overseas players.

C.M Gautam, Pawan Suyal, Jalaj Saxena, Shreyas Gopal, Apporv Wankhade, Sushant Marathe, Ben Dunk (exciting batsman, who plays for the Hobart Hurricanes in the Australian BBL) and Krishmar Santokie (West Indian medium pacer) are the other members of this power-packed MI squad.

Looking ahead towards the upcoming IPL season

The Mumbai Indians squad still looks good and has the substance to go on and successfully defend the title. If anything, there lies a couple of spots that could require some kind of a tweaking in order to strike the right combination for the prevalent conditions.

Also, making the transition from playing the 1st phase of the tournament in the UAE to the 2nd phase back in India will be challenging for all the IPL franchises. It’s going to be fascinating to see how the teams fare during the 1st phase of the season that could have a massive bearing on who holds the bragging rights come the end of the 47-day long tournament.

MI have the squad and a great bunch of support staff to continue remaining a consistent IPL outfit. Barring the 1st couple of seasons, things have looked really good since 2010, and I am very much confident that the 2014 season will continue embellishing the brand that MI is, even if it is Tendulkar-less.

ALA RE ALA!