3 reasons why teams need to be wary of MI in IPL 2023

The perennial slow starters of the IPL, the Mumbai Indians edged out a formidable yet inconsistent Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 25th match of IPL 2023 on Tuesday, April 18, for their third straight win of the season.

After what was a shaky start for the five-time champions, losing their opening two matches, they are slowly gelling as a group and are getting into their groove. With Tuesday's win, MI climbed to sixth in the standings.

They are by no means playing to their full potential, but they have still managed to win three matches out of five and are well-placed in the race for the playoffs.

This is by no means a great sign for the remaining sides, as a five-time champion side playing to its potential is the last thing any team wants to face moving forward.

Hence, let's take a look at three reasons why every team needs to be wary of the Rohit Sharma-led franchise in IPL 2023.

---

3 reasons why teams should be wary of MI in IPL 2023

#3 Rohit-Ishan delivering the opening punch

If any team has an opening duo of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, then you can only imagine fireworks in the Powerplay. Considering Rohit's game against pace and Ishan's prowess against spin, and the ideal right-hand, left-hand combo, they could demolish any kind of bowling attack.

However, the two were extra cautious in Powerplay overs in IPL 2022, striking at only 116 in the first six overs, which used to put extra pressure on the then-inexperienced middle order to propel the side to a formidable score.

But in IPL 2023, the two batsmen have been using Powerplay overs to their fullest, as they are batting with a cumulative SR of 158 in this phase of the innings, with Rohit hitting at a SR of 150.7 and Ishan at 165.1.

This has eased the pressure on batsmen like Suryakumar Yadav to find their mojo back.

#2 MI's Tilak factor

There were no second-season blues for Tilak Varma as he continued to impress with his fearless yet responsible batting performances for his side. He finds himself among the top 10 run scorers of the season among batsmen like Faf Du Plessis, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli (all top-order batsmen), despite batting in the middle order.

This exemplifies two obvious things: Tilak is bailing out his team more often than not, and, playing in his second season, the prolific left-hander has matured as a batsman.

Teams have found it difficult to bowl against him as he has amassed 214 runs in five innings at an astonishing SR of 158.52.

Be it his murderous 84* (46) against RCB, his sensible 41(29) against Delhi Capitals, or his momentum-shifting inning of 37(17) against SRH, Tilak has proved to be the thorn in the opponent's flesh in the tournament so far.

#1 Handy bowling attack

If you look at MI's bowling attack, they are by no means a formidable unit that teams should be taking seriously, especially in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer.

Their performance in the first two matches was abysmal, to say the least, as they managed to pick up only three wickets in each of those matches.

But one of the reasons for their turnaround in IPL 2023 has to be the improvement in their bowling. They lack star performers in this department, unlike their batting, but they have bowlers who do the job with perfection, especially the old workhorse Piyush Chawla and Jason Behrendorff, who have been exceptional with the middle and death overs.

---

There are still some concerns in this side, with Suryakumar Yadav having not found his form, Tim David still finding his feet as a finisher, and a lack of quality in death bowling options.

However, if one team can pull off miraculous performances despite these shortcomings, it is the Mumbai Indians.