IPL-7 on it’s way, taking a look at Mumbai Indians

The Mumbai Indians will enter the Indian Premier League season 7 as defending champions. A team which looked strongest on paper right from season one but took them five seasons to win it. Full of fire power and most expensive and hardest hitters of the cricket ball, skippers ranging from Sachin Tendulkar to Harbhajan Singh and Ricky Ponting. It took Rohit Sharma’s batting and captaincy for Mumbai to be crowed IPL champs. MI won 13 of the 17 matches they played last season one of the best performances in IPL history.(also read Top 10 players to watch out for in IPL7 )

Past performances in IPL:

MI was shunted out in the league stage in the first two seasons. Got to the finals in the 2010 season but could not win it, two playoff appearances in the following two years. The 2014 season was theirs as they rose to the high of becoming Champions.

Season | Place

2008   –      Group stage

2009   –      Group stage

2010    –     Runners-up

2011     –     Playoffs

2012    –      Playoffs

2013   –      Champions

Strengths:

MI’s strength lies in their foreign players, big hitters and some fierce fast bowlers to name a few.

Kieron Pollard, Corey Anderson, Michael Hussey and Rohit Sharma with the bat.

Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh Pragyan Ojha Lasith Malinga their bowling strength.

Weaknesses:

Inconsistency has been their real enemy, the harder hitting the batsman lesser is his consistency. They have picked real big players but have failed to perform to the name and is the reason they have won just once. MI needs to play together as a unit and compliment each other’s effort.

 X Factors:

Rohit Sharma: Rohit will not only lead the side but lead it from front his performance in the previous season was one of the reasons for MI’s win. Rohit in the 19 matches last season scored 538 runs at an average of 38.48 including 4 half centuries. He is also among the top few scorers in the whole of IPL Rohit has 2513 runs in 93 matches including 18 half centuries and one century along with 14 wickets in his part time bowling. He is in good form and a good solid start right at the top is what MI will be looking for.

Corey Anderson:The New Zealand all-rounder shot into lime light with the fastest ODI ton reaching the triple figure in just 36 balls breaking Shahid Afridi’s years old record. Since then he has not looked back, hitting the bowlers all around the park and bowling medium pace along with excellent field work is what Corey offers to the team. He adds more fire power to the already explosive MI batting line-up.

Lasith Malinga:Malinga can easily be termed the best T20 bowler; his Yorkers are literally unplayable even for the best in the business. An example was India vs Sri Lanka WT20 finals where MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli both field to put him away even for a boundary. Call him to take early wicket and then to finish the innings, with an array of toe crushers giving away nothing and he can do it all. Malinga in IPL has played 73 matches in all picked up a 103 wickets with an economy of 6.54 also has a five wicket haul.(also get IPL7 fixture here)

Squad:

Rohit Sharma(C),Lasith Malinga,Kieron Pollard,Ambati Rayudu,Harbhajan Singh,Michael Hussey,Corey Anderson,Pragyan Ojha ,Zaheer Khan,Aditya Tare,Jasprit Bumrah,Jalaj Saxena Josh,Hazlewood,Merchant de Lange,Krishmar Santokie,Ben Dunk,CM Gautam,Apporv Wankhade,Pawan Suyal,Sushant Marathe,Shreyas Gopal.

Cricket Tracker Says: Mumbai Indians the defending champions are a strong contender for the title this time round as well. They have made a few good picks, retained their core. Rohit Sharma as skipper has cracked the winning code for success as the IPL victory was followed by CLT20 championship as well. A team which is as balanced in bowling as much with their batting a superb fielding side with Jhonty Rhodes taking the field drills. We would not be surprised if MI are crowned the IPL champs again.