Mumbai Indians are now the only team to win the IPL trophy thrice. Right from the first season, Mumbai Indians have been one of the strongest sides in the Indian Premier League. They have always had a good fusion of big international names and talented young Indian cricketers.
Their support staff has also been very high profile. The likes of John Wright, Anil Kumble, Ricky Ponting, Jonty Rhodes, Shane Bond and now Mahela Jayawardene have coached Mumbai Indians. Also, the legendary Indian batsman Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar plays the role of a mentor for Mumbai Indians, after his retirement from all forms of competitive cricket.
In IPL 2017, Mumbai Indians played good consistent cricket throughout the tournament. There were some brilliant individual performances from the likes of Nitish Rana, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah and others. Throughout the season, Mumbai Indians played as a unit and a lot of credit for this goes to their coaching staff. Mahela Jayawardene and Sachin Tendulkar, along with Jonty Rhodes, Robin Singh and Shane Bond, guided youngsters brilliantly and kept them motivated for the big matches.
In this post, The Cricket Lounge’s Tahan Bajaj lists five players Mumbai Indians would want to retain next season.
1) Rohit Sharma
It is quiet obvious that Mumbai Indians would want to retain their skipper Rohit Sharma. Rohit wasn’t at his best in IPL 2017 but he is a class act and one bad season will not take anything away from what he has achieved in his career. Rohit, apart from his batting, is also a brilliant captain. There is not doubt in anybody’s mind that Rohit Sharma aka The Hitman of Indian cricket, will be the first one Mumbai Indians would want to retain next year.
2) Jasprit Bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah is one of the best fast bowlers in world cricket at the moment. His ability to swing the new ball both ways at pace and bowl deadly yorkers in the death overs, makes him a must-have in limited-overs cricket. In IPL 2017, Bumrah impressed one and all with his outstanding display of fast bowling. Mumbai Indians would surely want to retain him for the next season. The highlight of the season for Bumrah was the super over he bowled to Gujarat Lions’ Brendon McCullum and Aaron Finch and defended 8 runs.
3) Krunal Pandya
Krunal Pandya has emerged as one of the most promising all-rounders in India. In IPL 2017, Krunal made some very significant contributions, with both- bat and ball. In the all important final of IPL 2017, Pandya played a crucial knock that helped Mumbai reach 130 runs in the end. He was also awarded the man of the match trophy for his match-winning innings.
4) Kieron Pollard
The big all-rounder from Carribean had a ‘hot and cold’ season. He played some good knocks but he also threw his wicket away sometimes. But, he is still one of the most destructive batsmen in T20 cricket and Mumbai would surely want to retain him for the next season. Pollard is also one of the best fielders in world cricket.
5) Hardik Pandya
The young all-rounder from Baroda adds so much more balance to Mumbai Indians’ playing XI, with his swing bowling and destructive batting lower down the order. Pandya has worked extremely hard on his game in the last 12 months and he is now, arguably, the best fast-bowling all-rounder in India. Considering his age and growing stature in Indian cricket, Mumbai would surely want to retain him for the next season.
