Mumbai is the most successful franchise in Indian T20 League with bagging record five totals. In 2020, they defeated Delhi in the final to defend their title. They would now look to make a hattrick of the titles and it will be a record in the history of world league cricket. Mumbai have the perfect combination of Indian talents and overseas players. They put time and effort into Indian players and now, they delivered with full perfection. Rohit Sharma has led Mumbai to four titles and the credit also goes to Head Coach Jayawardhene who created a winning atmosphere among all players. Mumbai also invested in the auction 2021 to boost their preparation for the 14th season.
Performance in last three seasons
Mumbai’s performance in the last three seasons was outstanding as they won two titles in the last three years. In 2019, they overcame arch-rivals Chennai by one run, and in 2020, they defeated Ponting’s Delhi to clinch the 5th record title. They’re the second team in Indian T20 League who defended the title for a successive year.
Team after auction 2021
Mumbai already a good backup of players but they tried to fill some gaps through the auction. They rebought Nathan Coulter Nile for 5 Cr. Mumbai showed interest on two New Zealand players Adam Milne and James Neesham. They picked young South African pacer Marco Jansen who can help Mumbai in case of injury. To help Rahul Chahar in spin, Mumbai picked Piyush Chawla. They have also grabbed two young Indian talents such as Yudhvir Charak and Arjun Tendulkar.
Here’s the full squad for Indian T20 League 2021
Rohit Sharma (c), Adam Milne, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan (wk), James Neesham, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Quinton de Kock (wk), Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Yudhvir Singh Charak
How overseas players stand
Mumbai mostly relies on fixed overseas players and a set of four players play the whole tournament with one or two changes in case of injury. Pollard, Boult, and De Kock will surely play all the matches in 2021. Chris Lynn might play the first couple of matches as De Kock will complete his quarantine. Mumbai can rotate both players according to their form. Pollard provides a superstar element to this side and his hard-hitting will be crucial for Mumbai. Neesham might be handy at down-order. Coulter Nile will be the third seamer if Mumbai goes with three pacers. He can also offer batting options in death. Adam Milne and Marco Jansen are two other good option if someone loses his form and good backup options.
How the Indian players stand
The Indian squad is the heart of Mumbai and the big reason behind Mumbai’s success in the Indian T20 League. Rohit Sharma is currently the finest white-ball cricketer in modern cricket. His consistency will be crucial at the top-order. Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan both got the national call-up in England series. The duo will bat in middle-order and their form will define the whole campaign for Mumbai. Hardik Pandya is already a star in hard-hitting but Mumbai will now expect him to bowl as well. Saurabh Tiwary impressed in short outings last season and he will be a good backup player if Mumbai drops De Kock or Lynn to fulfill the overseas quota. Krunal Pandya also got his ODI cap and scored the fastest debut half-century. Rohit may promote him up in the order but Krunal’s role is more into the spin. Rahul Chahar will now also get the support of Piyush Chawla to boost the spin-attack but the team combination will be tough and Chawla will only play on spinning tracks as Krunal is already a second spin-option for Mumbai. They also have Jayant Yadav and Arjun Tendulkar in the all-around option but their chances to feature in XI is pretty less. Jasprit Bumrah will also be back after missing out the white-ball series against England. Dhawal Kulkarni is another option in pace-attack.
Weakness of Mumbai and how they can overcome these
Mumbai has too many positives and they can only lose if they had an off day. Defending champions suffered issues in middle-overs and Rahul Chahar looked inconsistent. Krunal is effective but he is not a first-choice spinner. The spin attack might be boosted by Piyush Chawla. It would be interesting to see how Boult and Coulter Nile retain their consistency. If Bumrah fails to get support from another end, Mumbai can suffer later in the tournament.
Pitch command as per the new schedule
Lack of home advantage shouldn’t be an issue for Mumbai as they recently won a title in UAE. They had a good record in away matches too. Mumbai will play their first five matches at Chepauk which is a spin-friendly track and Mumbai can have some issues because they don’t rely much on Chahar and Krunal. Chawla would be seen in the first few matches. They will play four matches each in Bengaluru and Delhi which suits their playing style. The last match will be held in Kolkata. The playoffs will be in Motera and it can also test Mumbai because we believe Mumbai will surely make it to the playoffs.
Possible XI
Rohit Sharma (c), Adam Milne, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Arjun Tendulkar, Chris Lynn, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan (wk), James Neesham, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Marco Jansen, Mohsin Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Quinton de Kock (wk), Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Tiwary, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Yudhvir Singh Charak
