IPL 2017: Mumbai Indians Best Possible XI

The two-time champions of the Indian Premier League Mumbai Indians had a pretty balanced squad before the player auction and even after letting some players go, their equilibrium was not hampered drastically like the other franchises. Even though they did try to buy Ben Stokes to a certain extent, they did not end up spending too much on one player and Karn Sharma was their costliest pick for INR 3.2 crores.

Other notable picks were Mitchell Johnson and Krishnappa Gowtham who came at the prize of INR 2 crores and Nicolas Pooran and Asela Gunaratne for INR 30 Lacs each. With the inclusion of these players, their squad only got stronger. In spite of the additions, we could still see the core of the team taking the field. Here is a look at the best XI for Mumbai Indians with the updated squad:

Openers:

Parthiv Patel and Lendl Simmons

The franchise was well served by the duo of Parthiv and Simmons at the start. They play the perfect foil for each other as Parthiv goes after the bowling from the outset and Simmons plays second fiddle for a few overs. Simmons starts going after the bowling after getting the feel of the pitch and likes to go on to get a big score.

Mumbai always seemed to have troubles with the opening combination and had tried multiple players like Richard Levi, Alex Hales and Aided Blizzard but none of them really made a mark at that slot. Since Simmons joined the squad in the year 2015, he has combined well with Parthiv to form a formidable opening pair.