The team with the most Indian Premier League titles, Mumbai Indians, had a torrid 2022 season. Finishing rock bottom, the five-time champions failed to truly get going at any point. There was rarely any particular consistency in the team and Mumbai ended up using a whopping 25 players across the tournament. The initial absence of Suryakumar Yadav did not help, nor did the form of their stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard.
This year has not gone smoothly so far either, despite a ball not being bowled. Last season's top wicket-taker and one of the world's best fast bowlers in Jasprit Bumrah has been ruled out for the season, as well as Australian pacer Jhye Richardson.
Mumbai Indians IPL 2022 performance
It truly was not a good season for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022. There were few positives to be taken, but there were a number of young players that were blooded, a route that Mumbai have seemingly bought into recently.
Ishan Kishan top scored with 418 runs, closely followed by the impressive Tilak Varma who was Mumbai's main breakout talent. Suryakumar showed his class and quality as he scored 303 runs in the eight innings that he was able to play. Tim David showed why he should probably have played more than eight matches himself, smoking 186 runs at an extortionate strike rate of 216.3. South African teenager Dewald Brevis also showed strong glimpses of his considerable talent.
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| Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma will have to provide some considerably better performances in IPL 2023 if his side are to improve on last season's poor run [CREDIT: IPLT20] |
The experienced heads were disappointing, though. Rohit scored just 268 runs in 14 innings at a lowly strike rate of 120.2. Pollard managed to only get to 25 as a high score in 11 innings, while scoring at an unusually slow strike rate of 107.5.
The bowling was largely held up by the significant quality of Bumrah, who took 15 wickets with a tidy economy rate of 7.18. Australian Daniel Sams was the only other Mumbai bowler to double digits in terms of wickets, though Murugan Ashwin took nine. Kumar Kartikeya, Hrithik Shokeen and Ramandeep Singh emerged as players to watch with a few solid contributions.
What squad changes have Mumbai Indians made via the IPL auction?
Naturally, after finishing bottom in IPL 2022, it was expected that Mumbai would make wholesale changes to their squad. Naturally, that is what happened. Prior to the IPL 2023 auction, Mumbai released a host of players, including some important ones. Kieron Pollard's legendary run with the team ended, but as a playing member only as he was announced as the MI batting coach. Despite taking 13 wickets in 2022 and offering lower order quality with the bat, Sams was also not retained.
Sams was joined by England left-armer Tymal Mills, Aussie quick Riley Meredith and electric West Indies all-rounder Fabian Allen in being released by Mumbai. Notable domestic bowlers such as Basil Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat, Murugan and Mayank Markande were also not retained as a full-scale reshuffle was planned.
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| Daniel Sams (R) was not retained by Mumbai despite only being behind Jasprit Bumrah in their wicket-takers list, while Kieron Pollard's (L) legendary run with the franchise was ended after he too was not retained [CREDIT: IPLT20] |
Mumbai were involved in one of the biggest IPL auction purchases ever as they sealed the deal for Australian all-rounder Cameron Green for around £1.75 million. Along with Richardson, though, that was pretty much all their notable business despite all the outgoings. Piyush Chawla, the experienced former India international who is currently joint-fifth with Ravichandran Ashwin in the all-time IPL wicket-takers list, was also picked up.
How is the squad shaping up ahead of the start of IPL 2023?
Potential starting XI: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Cameron Green, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Ramandeep Singh, Jofra Archer, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff, Kumar Kartikeya
Mumbai have seemingly developed a recruitment strategy revolved around both the long-term and spending big on a few rather than developing true depth. That has already worked against them in a way, with Bumrah and Richardson already out of what could have been a very menacing bowling attack. Instead, they will have to again call upon some more inexperienced names. That being said, they can also call upon Chawla and Behrendorff, two players with spades of t20 experience.
It will be interesting to see what Mumbai do with their fourth overseas slot, with the first three seemingly nailed on with regards to Green, Archer and David. The young South African power hitters in Brevis and Tristan Stubbs could be strong options with the new Impact Player rule in place, though that would be in cases where Mumbai name just the three overseas players to start with, with an additional Indian bowler.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe top six does look exceptionally strong, however, and it is unlikely that Rohit will struggle as much this time around. Green will add another dimension, despite his own relative inexperience in the format itself. David should now be a lock, given his performances in the last 12 months continuing the momentum he accrued ahead of his debut IPL season in 2022.
There is plenty of scope for more young domestic talents to come through in what is a fairly open XI, particularly in the lower order and the bowling. Hrithik looked promising in his five outings last season and could well get a chance ahead of someone like Ramandeep in the lower order all-rounder slot.
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