IPL 2018: Predicting where the 8 Franchises would finish on the Points Table

#6 Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians are the defending champions

Mumbai Indians are the defending champions this year after winning the trophy for the third time in 2017.

Mumbai are the most successful franchise in terms of winning the trophy and have a lot of expectations to meet.

Mumbai team management has been able to retain the core of their 2017 team as they were able to get Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Pandya brothers and Kieron Pollard back into their fold this year.

The problem, however, is with the form of these players.

One can expect Bumrah and Sharma to perform irrespective of their current form but same is not the case with Pandya brothers.

The main reason for Mumbai's victory last year was the way both the Pandyas played. This year hasn't been good for both of them and this will turn out to be a serious problem for the Mumbai Indians in a league as competitive as IPL.

Lack of quality spinners is another problem which Mumbai Indians are facing and they may regret not bidding for Harbhajan Singh at the end of the season.

This season could pose some tough questions to the defending champions as the other teams have improved their squads from last year while Mumbai doesn't have its best players in form.