5 players Mumbai Indians should pick in IPL 2019

Mumbai Indians (MI) began their season as the defending champions having won the title last year. But their campaign ended prematurely as they failed to qualify for the playoffs. The team didn’t look at their best this time around and were too much dependent on the individuals to take them home every time. Moreover, the captain Rohit Sharma was out of form which added to their woes. However, they didn’t give up until the end and went down fighting in their last league match against the Delhi Daredevils (DD).

The franchise lacked the firepower in the middle and lower-middle order this year as they never got the much-needed finishing kick in the death overs. The likes of Kieron Pollard and Ben Cutting were below par and apart from an occasional brilliance, they failed to set the stage on fire. Rohit Sharma and Co. would be eager to address the issues and come back stronger in the next season.

Here we look at the players who MI would want to pick in IPL 2019:

1. Travis Head

Travis Head is one of the most exciting cricketers going around in T20 cricket. He bats at number 3 or 4 in the Big Bash League (BBL) and has an ability to tonk the ball. He can also manoeuvre the ball if the team is in tatters at any stage of the innings. Mumbai lacked such a versatile player in the line-up this year and the middle-order always looked brittle with Rohit misfiring consistently. They wasted the strong starts so often and ended up being few runs short while batting first.

Head led the Adelaide Strikers to their maiden title in the BBL this year and brings a sense of calmness in the batting line-up. He has scored 1516 runs in 59 matches at an amazing strike-rate of 136.94 managing to hit 8 half-centuries and a solitary century. He is a decent bet with the ball as well and can round his arm for his captain to fill in a few tight overs in case the regular bowlers aren’t doing well. Head would be an ideal addition to the talented squad of Mumbai Indians and it will be interesting to see if they go for him in the auction next year.