3 big weaknesses MI should not ignore despite late success in IPL 2023

The Mumbai Indians (MI) arguably overperformed in the IPL 2023 season despite bowing out of the tournament after a 62-run defeat at the hands of the Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad on Friday, May 27.

The five-time IPL champions had some massive injuries in their bowling department and their performances in the initial half of the tournament were so ordinary that no one gave them a chance to make it to the playoffs.

However, some or the other player stepped up to get the job done and Rohit Sharma and Co. will probably be proud of what they were able to achieve in IPL 2023. That being said, there have been some areas of concern in the Mumbai Indians squad that they would like to address ahead of the next season.

Let's take a look at three such issues MI need to address:

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#3 Tim David's inconsistency

IPL 2023 was the first season in more than a decade when the Mumbai Indians were without the services of legendary West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard. He was their main finisher and an indifferent IPL 2022 season with the bat meant that he decided to retire from the tournament as he didn't want to represent any other team.

Australian all-rounder Tim David showed signs of brilliance last season, and it felt that IPL 2023 would be the season where he would explode with regular game time. But that wasn't to be as David had a pretty ordinary season as a finisher.

In 16 matches, Tim David scored just 231 runs at a strike rate of 158.22 and a modest average of 25.67. He struggled particularly against wrist spin and the opposition bowlers targeted this weakness of his. Besides that incredible cameo of 45* against the Royals, David didn't live up to the billing this season.

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#2 MI's death bowling woes

With both Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer unavailable with injuries, Mumbai struggled in the death bowling department and it took quite some time before they could settle into a combination that worked for them.

Akash Madhwal proved to be arguably the find of the season for MI, but he didn't get much-needed support from the other end, especially during the death overs. The likes of Chris Jordan, Rilee Meredith, etc. were highly expensive and provided almost no support to other bowlers.

Mumbai Indians will be hopeful of their gun speedsters getting back to full fitness next season, but if the injury woes continue, they will need to look at alternatives.

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#1 Rohit Sharma's form

Arguably one of the major problems MI have had over the past 2-3 seasons has been the inconsistency of their captain Rohit Sharma at the top of the order. He scored just 332 runs this season at a pretty modest average of 20.75.

The ultra-attacking approach that Rohit has tried in the powerplay has failed on most occasions and he may need to rethink what worked best for him over the years when he was prolific as an opener.

MI had quite an explosive batting line-up who turned up on most occasions, especially in big run-chases. However, Rohit's form may push them to take some tough decisions ahead of the next season.