"They will miss Jasprit Bumrah"- Sunil Gavaskar makes bold claim on MI's fortunes in IPL 2023

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar believes the Mumbai Indians (MI) have a team that can win the IPL 2023 title despite Jasprit Bumrah's absence. MI will be without the services of their pace spearhead as he has been suffering from a long-term back injury and has reportedly undergone surgery.

However, Gavaskar feels Mumbai still have enough talent to make a serious charge at the title in the upcoming season. He reckons they will be motivated to silence their critics after finishing rock bottom last season.

Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, here's what Sunil Gavaskar had to say about the chances of Mumbai Indians winning the IPL 2023 season:

"They have to forget what happened last season and got to believe that they have the team to do it again. They will miss Jasprit Bumrah. But they have got a team that can win the championship once again. I see them in the top three definitely, because they have a point to prove after last year's performance."

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MI yet to name Jasprit Bumrah's replacement

Bumrah is arguably one of the biggest match-winners Mumbai Indians have ever produced. However, a recurring back injury has forced him to opt for surgery, meaning he won't be featuring in the IPL 2023 season.

It will be interesting to see who Mumbai name as Bumrah's replacement as there aren't many Indian pacers that could arguably fill his big shoes. MI would definitely have started working on their combinations in Bumrah's absence.

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MI IPL 2023 squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Tim David, Ramandeep Singh, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Jofra Archer, Jasprit Bumrah (reportedly ruled out with back injury), Arjun Tendulkar, Arshad Khan, Kumar Kartikeya, Hrithik Shokeen, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal, Cameron Green, Jhye Richardson, Piyush Chawla, Duan Jansen, Vishnu Vinod, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Raghav Goyal.