IPL 2020: A complete SWOT Analysis of all eight teams

The anticipation for IPL has been intensifying with each passing day. Be it the arrival of teams in UAE, announcement of sponsors or social media posts- everything related to IPL has been generating buzz and rightly so. It is a tournament the entire cricketing fraternity and millions of fans across the globe are eagerly looking forward to.

IPL has been a phenomenon not just because of all the glam and glitz around the cash rich tournament but also owing to the quality of cricket played year after year since its inception in 2008

There is hardly anything to separate the teams which results in cut throat competition and great cricket matches. But each team has certain strengths and weaknesses.

Here is a thorough and comprehensive SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis of each IPL team for the 13th edition of the IPL.

(To maintain consistency, two main strengths and one weakness, opportunity and threat for each team will be looked upon.)

Mumbai Indians

Squad:- Rohit Sharma (C), Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Kieron Pollard, Anmolpreet Singh, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar, Nathan Coulter Nile, Quinton de Kock, Digvijay Deshmukh, Ishan Kishan, Dhawal Kulkarni, Chris Lynn, Mohsin Khan, Prince Balwant Rai, Saurabh Tiwary, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Dhawal Kulkarni, Anukul Roy

Strengths

• Championship Winning Core- In Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Lasith Malinga, the defending champions have a core of players who have played a massive role in the 3 IPLs they have won together since 2015. Add to that Krunal Pandya who has been part of the two recent victories, and Mitchell McClenaghan, who has also won 3 IPLs with MI playing a significant role in 2 of them. Mumbai have a core of experienced and talented players, who knows how to win the big games and clinch the crucial moments. Irrespective of talent a team possesses, it is the performance in pressure moments that defines a strong team and Mumbai have the men for those moments. Their core group, their experiences and camaraderie they share, is surely their biggest strength.

• Outstanding Pace Attack- Mumbai Indians arguably have the best pace attack going into IPL 13. They already possessed India’s premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and their consistent performer Mitchell McClenaghan. In addition to that they have brought in the number one ODI Bowler, Trent Boult, a very good T20 bowler, Nathan Coulter Nile and Indian domestic veteran Dhawal Kulkarni. Hardik Pandya has also been a good performer with the ball in the last couple of seasons. This pace attack has the quality to blow away any line up. While Malinga is likely to miss a few initial games, in the latter stages, it will surely be a nightmare for batsmen to face Bumrah and Boult together.

Weakness

• Inexperienced Spin Attack- While there are no questions regarding the quality of Mumbai’s pace attack, their spin lineup, atleast on paper, doesn’t look much intimidating. While Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar, their primary spinners both had good seasons last year, picking up 12 and 13 wickets respectively at a great economy, both of them cannot be regarded as great spinners of the ball and are unlikely to be able to exploit the pitches as much as spinners of other teams. A greater problem is their reserves in the spin department. They only have Anukul Roy who is very inexperienced and Jayant Yadav, who has played just 12 IPL games despite being an Indian international as a backup spinner, and neither of them have done much to give skipper Rohit Sharma confidence. While MI will be hoping for their two main spinners to come good, they could be in serious problems if either of them doesn’t find form.

Opportunity

• After having recovered from injury earlier this year, Jasprit Bumrah looked rusty on his return. The extended break would have surely given him more fuel to add to the tank and a 100% fit Bumrah could be decisive for MI.

Threat

• Everyone remembers the fact that Mumbai lost all 5 of the games they played in UAE back in 2014. While things have changed drastically since then, their poor track record and especially of their skipper Rohit who has just 84 runs in 5 innings is surely going to be on top of their mind.

Potential Surprises-Suryakumar Yadav, Rahul Chahar