IPL 2019 | SWOT analysis - Mumbai Indians

03/23/2019

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Mumbai Indians will once again throw their hat into the ring after ticking all boxes required to form a strong core and despite some late injury concerns, they seem primed for a championship run. However, the team needs to do away with the usual chinks and complacency factor from the very beginning.

When Conde Nast Entertainment released the Mumbai Indians documentary - Cricket Fever - on Netflix earlier this month, there was a huge craze for it. After all, how the wealthiest Indian family in the world operates to run a business that has captured eyeballs of the millions yet seldom escaped the cynical eye, could never have left every second discussion at the pubs and chai shop around the country during the IPL. However, it came as a familiar business model showcase with some blatant interview sequences, rather than delving deep into the actual process and player psychology.

The Mumbai Indians story, too, is a familiar narrative, much like the predictability of the documentary. Unlike “All or Nothing”, the Amazon Prime special on Manchester City’s glorious run to win the English Premier League, the Mumbai Indians one found the way out in the visual representations of facts that already exist, with insights that are only going to satiate the mad want-to-see-a-cricket-movie demographic. I could go on and on to say why I didn’t like it entirely, but then again isn’t it the story of the franchise as a whole? They have equal takers as much as they have the haters and it was not ago, when the red-line was drawn in the first decade of the IPL, the Mukesh Ambani-owned franchise stood out as the illuminating light of the tournament with the three titles putting them at the top of the hierarchy.

Despite being slow starters to the season, especially in the last five years, Mumbai have managed to turn things around in dramatic fashion. And the experience in recovering from any precarious situations have been the reason why they have never been counted off even though they get a terrible start to the campaign. And that is exactly the reason why the team will go into the 12th edition as one of the favourites regardless of the fact that they exited early last year with almost the same core group of players.

Strengths

Over the years, Mumbai Indians have taken pride in their openers. Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, everyone had a huge role to play in the middle-order playing fearlessly. Last time, they had Suryakumar Yadav and Evin Lewis at the top and it paid huge dividends. While Yadav was the most consistent MI batsman last year, scoring 512 runs in 14 outings at an average of 36.57, Lewis and Kishan played the second fiddle role to perfection. That is the point on which Mumbai would love to score this time. With Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya coming in next, a good score is guaranteed more often than not, unless and until they adopt the weapon of mass destruction.

The Pandya brothers are another reason why Mumbai have always punched above their weight and it didn’t come as a huge surprise when Akash Ambani was adamant to have Krunal in his team despite having to let go of him ahead of the mega-auction. The keys to successes of the franchise lie in the hands of the duo and their explosive batting will be a huge bonus for them.

Weaknesses

It is very hard to explain Mumbai’s obsession with Kieron Pollard. Of course, the burly Caribbean all-rounder was at the centre of many successful comebacks for the franchise, but he has not been the same force, say three or four years ago. He hardly bowls now and those sixes, which defined his legacy in some way, has dwindled drastically to a point where the bowlers aren’t fearing landing the full balls to him regularly. Considering the fact that he is a mercurial character and has the ability to turn things around on a go, Mumbai will continue including him in the line-up, but that is clearly a chink in their armour.

Similarly, Yuvraj Singh has come with a huge burden on their shoulder and considering the fact that he is likely to start in the IPL, it will put Mumbai on the backfoot due to the southpaw's slow-scoring tendency lately. Having him in the top-five means the Pandya brothers will face a conundrum of sorts to suddenly up the ante lest the top-order doesn't get the fireworks cracking in the powerplay. On the other hand, the Mumbai-based franchise lack a proper wrist-spinner in their team apart from Mayank Markande. Markande had a breakthrough season, taking 14 wickets at a strike rate of 18.8 balls per wicket, but repeating this performance again will be a challenge for the teenager though and their only alternative wrist-spinner is Rahul Chahar. That will be a challenge to address for the team.

Opportunities

The franchise bought Lasith Malinga back this year after appointing him as a coach last year, but will they actually use him in the match situation? Looking at the way Malinga operated in the last few limited-overs matches last year, it seems like he has found his feet and can go on to do well, but at the last moment, he pulled himself out of the first six matches so as to make him qualify for Sri Lanka's World Cup squad. Now, Mumbai's opportunity lies in the proper use of Ben Cutting’s talent as the Queensland all-rounder is a hard-hitting batsman and can be a proper sixth bowling option in case the team needs him.

Threats

While batting has always been their strong point, their bowling unit has been blessed with none other than Jasprit Bumrah, arguably the sport’s current best practitioner of the pace bowling. Bumrah had a wonderful year with the ball, but he has very lesser partners to cope with. Neither of Jason Behrendorff nor Mitchell McClenaghan does have as much of strength as compared to their Indian counterpart. That may come out to haunt the franchise in the long run if BCCI decides to pull Bumrah out of the tournament to keep up his workload management thing in check ahead of the World Cup. Will Behrendorff be there until the end or will Australia call him up for the same reason as Bumrah?

Squad

Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Mayank Markande, Rahul Chahar, Anukul Roy, Siddhesh Lad, Aditya Tare, Kieron Pollard, Evin Lewis, Ben Cutting, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Jason Behrendorff, Quinton de Kock, Jayant Yadav, Barinder Singh Sran, Lasith Malinga, Yuvraj Singh, Anmolpreet Singh, Pankaj Jaiswal, Rasikh Dar

Ideal Starting XI

Quinton de Kock*, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard*, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Ben Cutting*, Mayank Markande, Jason Behrendorff*, Jasprit Bumrah