4 problems Mumbai Indians need to address in order to put on a better show in IPL 2019

Mumbai Indians have been one of the most successful franchises in the IPL history. They have been one of the only two teams to win IPL thrice, the other being Chennai Super Kings. They had won the title in 2013, 2015 and 2017.

Mumbai Indians have been always strong on the paper. Their team has a good combination of young and experienced player and most of them have lived up to their potential.

However, this alone cannot be the reason for the successful IPL history. We have seen this with RCB, who always have had a good team on paper, but have never won the title. So what is the reason for these good performances?

The reason for their good show has been their ability to find the right combination for each season, revolving mainly around their skipper Rohit Sharma and bowler Jasprit Bumrah. The franchise has shown trust in the core players, which has allowed the players to play freely, without worrying about being dropped from the squad.

However, the last season was very disappointing for the former champions. They failed to qualify for the playoffs. The main reason for the failure was the failure of their core players, especially Rohit Sharma, who failed to score 300+ in a season for the first time in his IPL career.

The team has all the ability to recover this season. Rohit Sharma has been in good form since his disappointing 2017 IPL season. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya have been good as well.

Let us take a look a some of the problems that Mumbai Indians would need to address in order to put on a better show in the upcoming season.

#1 Performance of all-rounder Kieron Pollard

Pollard will be under pressure to perform after a disappointing last season with Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians had failed to qualify for the playoffs in the last season, and the failure of Kieron Pollard was one of the biggest reasons for that.

He has been one of the best all rounder, not only for Mumbai Indians but also for every team he has played for. However, he had failed miserably in the previous season, both with the bat and the ball.

He could manage to score just 133 runs in the nine matches, without getting even a single wicket. So bad were his performances, that the management was forced to drop him from the team for the latter half of the season.

The franchise showed trust on him again, by retaining him for the next season. This brings even more pressure upon the 31-year-old to perform in the upcoming season.

#2 Death Over Problems

Jasprit Bumrah failed to prevent the team from collapsing during death overs

This was another big problem for Mumbai Indians during the last season. Even with the presence of death over specialist Jasprit Bumrah, the team couldn't prevent opponents' onslaught in the final overs.

Mumbai Indians conceded runs in the death overs at an economy rate of close to 8.5 runs per over. The problem had come to the fore in MI's first match of the season when Dwayne Bravo had alone snatched the match by scoring 63 runs in the last 5.5 overs.

The former champions' death-over frailties were evident in their second game of the tournament too when they conceded 47 runs in the last 6 overs to lose a thriller to against Delhi Daredevils.

The problem persisted with the team throughout the tournament. Mumbai Indians could have qualified for the playoffs had they won the close encounters last season.

#3 Inconsistent Mayank Markande

Mumbai Indians will be expecting consistency from Mayank this time around

Mayank Markande was the find of IPL 2018. He had managed 15 wickets in 14 matches and had troubled most of the batsman with his impressive legspinners.

However, the performance of the 21-year-old leg spinner lost his consistency in the later part of the tournament. Mayank, who had managed to take seven wickets in the first two matches, could take only eight wickets from the next 12 games. He also leaked runs as his economy rate stood at 8.36 runs per over.

However, Mayank has improved a lot in the past eight months after the IPL. He impressed everyone with his good bowling performance in the Emerging Players' Asia Cup. He has been retained by MI for IPL 2019 as well.

He will be under tremendous pressure to perform because the team has not bought any replacement for him and he will be expected to perform the role of the frontline spinner again.

#4 Injury and World Cup Concerns

Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya will be closely monitored by BCCI

There will a gap of only two weeks between the end of IPL and the commencement of ICC Cricket World Cup. In such a case, the BCCI will keep a close eye on the workload of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, as they will be one of the key members of India's World Cup campaign.

Due to the World Cup, Mumbai Indians might need to rest some of their key players in the second half of the IPL, so that the players do not suffer any fatigue or injury.

Apart from these players, Quinton De Kock and Jason Behrendorff will also be keenly monitored by the South African board and Australian Cricket board respectively.

Therefore, the performance of the team might decrease in the latter half of the IPL. The team will need to ensure that all the players are fit and injury-free for their national duties.