Mumbai Indians, apart from trading Hardik Pandya and making him a skipper, did a fantastic job in the auction table by picking top-class pacers like both Gerald Coetzee and Dilshan Madushanka for a price of less than ₹ 10 crores. They also picked Shreyas Gopal for just ₹20 lakhs in the auction.
Here, in this article, we will look at how Mumbai Indians playing XI could look in the upcoming IPL season.
Openers: Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma is expected to open with his partner Ishan Kishan in the 2024 edition of Indian Premier League. Sharma has been a disappointment in the last few IPL seasons, but he is expected to take his 2023 World Cup form into the upcoming edition. Ishan Kishan also would look to improve his strike rotation part in the middle overs of his T20 game. It will be intriguing to see how Hitman will play under Hardik Pandya’s captaincy.
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Middle Order: Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Dewald Brevis, Tim David
The world’s number 1 T20 batsman, Suryakumar Yadav, has been the backbone of this franchise since the 2020 IPL. In the last IPL season, he was the leading run-scorer (605) for MI from just 16 innings at a remarkable strike rate of 181.13. He also smashed a century against GT in the last IPL season.
Tilak Varma has been scoring runs consistently for MI in IPL 2022 & 2023 and is expected to carry his form in the next IPL season. He scored 397 runs from 14 innings in the 2022 season & 343 runs from 11 innings in the 2023 season.
Dewald Brevis, despite having so much potential, didn’t get to feature in the playing XI due to the overseas player constraint. But with Cameron Green’s trade, he can be expected to feature in the side.
Tim David has been a sensational replacement for Kieron Pollard in the Mumbai Indians setup as a hard-hitting batsman in the death overs of the game. In IPL 2023, he scored 231 runs at an impressive strike rate of 158.21.
Nehal Wadhera could also be a useful option to play as a middle-order batsman in this XI. He would be on the substitutes list for his franchise.
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All-Rounder: Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya, who was seen playing for Mumbai Indians from 2015-2021, played for Gujarat Titans in 2022 & 2023 editions as skipper. Hardik led GT in the 2022 IPL edition and helped his side to become runners-up in IPL 2023. Hardik Pandya will be seen leading Mumbai Indians for the first time in IPL 2024, hence, it will be interesting to see how he will manage to take his side for another glory.
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Bowlers: Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Jason Behrendorff, Gerald Coetzee
Mumbai Indians badly missed the services of Jasprit Bumrah in the 2023 IPL edition hence his return to the side will boost the team’s morale. Bumrah has taken 145 wickets in his IPL career at an economy of 7.4 from 120 innings.
Piyush Chawla was the leading wicket-taker for Mumbai Indians in the 2023 IPL with 22 wickets in 16 innings. Over the years, Chawla has silently performed for all his IPL franchises as he has 179 wickets in his IPL career, making him the third most for any bowler.
Jason Behrendoroff was the leading pace bowler for Mumbai Indians in the last IPL in the absence of key bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer (who played only 5 games). He has taken a total of 14 wickets in IPL 2023.
Gerald Coetzee impressed everyone in the 2023 World Cup by picking 21 wickets from 8 innings. He is expected to play a crucial role for his side in death overs alongside Bumrah in IPL 2024 for the Mumbai franchise.
Bowlers like Akash Madhwal, and Dilshan Madushanka will also be in contention to play for Mumbai Indians. Even Shreyas Gopal could be preferred on a spin-friendly track ahead.
