Opinion - Mumbai Indians should not buy Shikhar Dhawan in the IPL trade window

Mumbai Indians have been in the news for their activity in the IPL trade window. The Mukesh Ambani owned franchise bought South African wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock from the Royal Challengers Bangalore. They also released two of their international bowlers in Mustafizur Rahman and Akila Dananjaya before the auctions.

Now, reports have surfaced that the Mumbai based franchise are in talks with the Sunrisers Hyderabad to sign India’s top left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan. The left-hander is not happy in the Sunrisers Hyderabad and has expressed his desire to leave.

The Hyderabad franchise is in talks with various other franchises for a trade involving Shikhar Dhawan. The 3 time champions Mumbai Indians are the front-runners in the race. Shikhar Dhawan has also played for the Mumbai franchise in the earlier seasons of the league. But it may be a bad move by the Rohit Sharma led team to sign up yet another left-handed opener for the twelfth edition.

Mumbai Indians already have a plethora of openers in Evin Lewis, Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan in their squad and adding another opener may cause a problem of plenty in the team selection.

Evin Lewis and Suryakumar Yadav gave blistering starts to the Mumbai Indians in the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League

Mumbai Indians had a strong opening pair in IPL 2018 yet failed to make it to the top 4 because of their brittle middle order. Ben Cutting, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, and Hardik Pandya failed to produce match-winning performances with the bat leading to the team’s ouster. A middle-order batsman is the need of the hour for Mumbai Indians and to waste funds in the purchase of yet another opener is like hitting the hammer on their own feet.

None of the above mentioned 5 batsmen can play in the middle order which will raise concerns for Rohit Sharma. Maybe a young Indian batsman like Aditya Tare or an experienced overseas player like George Bailey can to solve Mumbai Indians’ middle order woes.

Shikhar Dhawan can emerge as the star of the season playing for any other franchise like Delhi Daredevils where he could open with Prithvi Shaw or maybe Kings XI Punjab where he and KL Rahul could destroy the bowlers in the power-play. Opportunities will diminish for the Indian stalwart if his trade to the Mumbai Indians is successful as there will be plenty of competition inside the team itself.