With 5 IPL trophies in their cabinet, Mumbai Indians are the most successful team in IPL history. However, the Ambani-owned franchise were lackluster in the last two seasons: they failed to reach the playoffs in IPL 2021, and suffered their worst-ever finish – at the last position – in IPL 2022.
Ahead of the IPL 2023 auction, they released a wholesale of players. In the auction, then, MI splashed a huge amount of money – INR 17.5 crore – on Australian all-rounder Cameron Green. After that, they made small purchases, barely a few of them are first-team players.
Mumbai Indians Players bought in IPL 2023 auction:
Cameron Green (INR 17.5 crore), Jhye Richardson (INR 1.5 crore), Piyush Chawla (INR 50 lakh), Duan Jansen (INR 20 lakh), Vishnu Vinod (INR 20 lakh), Shams Mulani (INR 20 lakh), Nehal Wadhera (INR 20 lakh), Raghav Goyal (INR 20 lakh).
Here are 2 weakest components of the Mumbai Indians squad in IPL 2023:
Lack of fast bowling depth after injuries to Bumrah and Jhye Richardson
Jasprit Bumrah and Jhye Richardson have been ruled out of IPL 2023. This is something that is a difficult pill to swallow for Mumbai Indians and their fans. Not to forget, Jofra Archer is coming off a long injury layoff and hence has been advised by the medical team to play 3 or more matches on a trot yet.
Their bowling was their weakest link last season, and now in the absence of Bumrah and Richardson – two high-quality bowlers who cover both the powerplay and death overs phase- plus Archer not being advised to play all games, MI’s fast bowling is again going to suffer.
Rohit Sharma will then have to look toward other non-marquee overseas pacers and local Indian bowlers; don’t be surprised if you see Arjun Tendulkar bowling with the new ball in MI’s first match in IPL 2023.
Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal are proper pacers in the squad, while the all-rounders include Cameron Green, Ramandeep Singh, Arshad Khan, and Duan Jansen, who is the brother of Marco Jansen and similarly bowls left-arm pace.
MI’s fast bowling attack will have to go through the scanner again, and the franchise and their fans will hope for Jofra Archer to do what he’s bought to do.
No experienced or in-form spinner
If you thought MI’s fast bowling attack is not strong or lacks experience, wait till you see their spin attack. MI retained Kumar Kartikeya and Hritik Shokeen, both of whom made their debuts last season and were impressive – impressive enough to be retained and be seen a potential good spinners as they gain experience, but didn’t put any match-winning efforts yet. Shokeen has done well in domestic tournament – he can bat too – but bowling to world-class batters in the IPL is a totally different gravy.
They bought the experienced Piyush Chawla in the auction, but when was the last time you saw Piyush Chawla put a match-winning or match-turning spell in the IPL? A long time ago – because Chawla has barely featured in the IPL in recent years: he went unsold in IPL 2022 auction; played 1 match for MI in 2021; played in 7 matches for CSK in 2020, picking up 6 wickets while leaking at more than 9 runs an over.
So it is still baffling – at least to me as an MI fan – as to if Chawla played just 1 match for MI in 2021, what has changed in the interim for MI to put faith in him again to be their lead leg-spinner?
Bowling for Gujarat, in SMAT 2022, Chawla picked 6 wickets in 5 matches, and in VHT, he picked 5 wickets in 6 matches.
Mumbai Indians’ spin-bowling attack is looking like the opposition are specifically going to target them.
Mumbai Indians IPL 2023 Full squad:
- Openers: Rohit Sharma
- Middle order: Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Dewald Brevis,Tilak Verma
- Wk: Ishan Kishan, Tristan Stubbs, Vishnu Vinod
- All-rounders: Cameron Green, Arjun Tendulkar, Ramandeep Singh, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Hritik Shokeen, Arshad Khan, Marco Jansen
- Spinners: Piyush Chawla, Kumar Kartikeya, Raghav Goyal
- Fast bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Jofra Archer, Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal
(Jasprit Bumrah and Jhye Richardson have been ruled out of IPL 2023)
