5 players who can help Mumbai Indians defend their IPL title

Mumbai Indians, owned by Reliance Industries Limited, is the most successful team in the IPL. After an initial struggle in the starting two seasons, the club has boomed from the 3rd season till now, by qualifying to the play-offs each time. The men in blues are the only team to win 100 T20s and 3 IPL titles and one of the two teams to win 2 Champions League T20 titles.

Prior to the IPL auction in February, the franchise, RIL, with the head coach, Mahela Jayawardene might look for these five players to win their 4th IPL title.

#5 Krunal Pandya

Krunal Pandya

Krunal Pandya, the elder one of the Pandya brothers, has turned out to be a secret weapon for Mumbai Indians in the last two season of the league.

The all-rounder, who bats left-handed and bowls left arm spin, became the highest run-getter and highest wicket taker for Baroda in the 2016-17 Vijay Hazare Trophy. Prior to IPL 9, Mumbai Indians acquired the young talent with a high bid of Rs. 2 Crore in the auction. With his big hitting ability, he has scored 480 runs with an inflated strike rate of 158.4 for the club in the past two seasons.

Krunal Pandya was also awarded the ‘Man of the Match’ award for his crucial match winning performance of 47 runs from 38 balls against RPS in the IPL 10 Final.

#4 Kieron Pollard

Kieron Adrian Pollard

Kieron Adrian Pollard, a T20 specialist, was acquired by Mumbai Indians with a maximum allowed bid of $750,000 at the 2010 IPL auction. The Trinidadian batsman has scored 7594 runs in T20 format with a strike rate of 150.97, becoming the fifth player in the world to score over 7000 runs. With his big hitting ability, he has hit more sixes (491) than boundaries (486) in his entire T20 career. The All-rounder has picked 241 wickets in his T20 career with his slow medium pace bowling style.

Pollard showed a great performance for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2013, by scoring 60 runs from 32 balls when the team was 52 for 4 down, thus leading the Mumbai Indians to their first IPL title. The aggressive all-rounder has scored 2343 runs, taken 56 wickets and caught 70 catches for Mumbai Indians.

Pollard’s inclusion will definitely strengthen their lower middle order batting line up as well as the fielding division for the team.

#3 Jasprit Bumrah

Jasprit Bumrah is one of the most talented first bowlers right now

Jasprit Bumrah, the death over specialist, is one of the top fast bowler in the current Indian cricket squad for shorter formats.

The 23-year-old with his unorthodox bowling action and spot-on Yorkers has shattered the defense of many batsmen in the game. The Gujarat pacer had a great International run by collecting 52 wickets in 28 ODIs and 40 wickets in 30 T20s.

Bumrah holds the record of taking highest number of wickets in T20 International in a calendar year. In the last two seasons of IPL, Bumrah has picked 35 wickets for the Mumbai Indians with his deceptive release point and unique variations in his bowling. He might top the selectors' list when it comes to bowling in death overs.

#2 Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya, impressed everyone with his all-round performance

Hardik Pandya, considered the perfect batting all-rounder, has ticked all the check-boxes in the batting, bowling and fielding department. The Baroda boy proved his knack to the team when he received a ‘Man of the Series’ award for scoring 222 runs with an average of 55.50 and took 6 wickets in the India-Australia bilateral series 2017.

The big hitter saved India’s honour in the Champions trophy final against Pakistan by scoring 76 runs off 43 balls and also became the fastest batsman to reach half century in an ICC tournament. The 24-year-old seamer showcased his skill with the ball when he defended two runs in three balls against Bangladesh in the ICC World T20 2016.

With his attacking mindset and agile body, Pandya has been able to flip many matches in Mumbai Indians favour. In his last season, he scored 250 runs with a strike rate of 156.25, caught 12 catches and took 6 wickets. Pandya will play a greater role for Mumbai Indians in the upcoming IPL season.

#1 Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma is the only player to win 4 IPL titles

Rohit Sharma, the vice-captain of Indian cricket team, is one of the most successful openers for the country. With a remarkable performance of 264 runs, he became the first player in the world to have scored two double centuries in ODIs.

As a Captain, He has led the Mumbai Indians team successfully to three IPL title victories, becoming the only captain to have won the highest number of IPL title. As a prolific batsman, he has scored 4207 runs with a strike rate of 130.89, becoming the third highest run-scorer in IPL history. Apart from batting, he also owns a hat-trick against his current club Mumbai Indians in 2009.

Rohit Sharma will be the kingpin of the Mumbai Indians squad in the next edition of IPL.