Mumbai’s Performance in Indian T20 League

Mumbai Team Schedule for Indian T20 league 2023

Squad Analysis of Mumbai

Mumbai brought Jofra Archer in the mega auction of 2022 to pair him up with Jasprit Bumrah and make what could be the most lethal bowling attack in the tournament. That dream however was not realised in 2022 as Archer couldn’t participate in the tournament because of injury. In 2023, while Archer has regained fitness and is ready to don the Mumbai colors for the first time, Bumrah has been ruled out of the tournament. That means a lot of the bowling load will be on the fragile shoulders of Archer.

Mumbai, who won the tournament back to back in 2019 and 2020 will have a big task ahead of them in 2023 and their squad doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. However, Mark Boucher being brought on as the new Head Coach after last season’s dismal performance shows that the management is going to pull all stops to orchestrate a turnaround for the team in 2023.

Strengths – The batting order of Mumbai looks extremely strong with three big Indian names manning the top-order in the form of Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav. With Kieron Pollard hanging up his boots after an indifferent season last year, the lower middle order could be manned by three supremely talented big hitters in the form of Dewald Brevis, Tim David and Cameron Green. If one of them doesn’t get going, they’ll turn to an equally talented Tristan Stubbs. Connecting that star studded top-order and lower middle order will be the find of last season – Thillak Verma. The youngster was the sole bright spot in Mumbai’s woeful season in 2022.

Weaknesses – The travails around the Bumrah-Archer combination aside, the Mumbai bowling attack looks one of the weakest on paper. To make matters worse, even Australian pacer Jhye Richardson has been ruled out. To add some experience to their bowling, the franchise bought leggie Piyush Chawla but he himself hasn’t played much in the past two seasons. The huge difference in their bowling and batting department shouldn’t take our attention off the fact that Mumbai had a fairly similar batting lineup in 2022 as well, but barring Suryakumar Yadav none of the established names turned up. It will be very important for the team’s chances that these reputed batters turn in performances that match their reputation.

Mumbai Team in Indian T20 League 2023

Mumbai’s journey in the first five editions of the Indian T20 League was forgettable to say the least. They struggled despite having some of the best players in their side, including master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. Their fortunes changed in 2013 when Rohit Sharma was handed over the captaincy of the time in the middle of the season as captain Ricky Ponting failed to keep the runs flowing from his bat. Not only did they win the 2013 edition but went on to collect four more titles in the next seven editions. That’s how the team has become a proper Indian T20 League powerhouse and one that always begins the tournament as favorites.

In 2023 the equation will be slightly different though. Despite their 5 titles, their last two seasons haven’t gone according to plan. While in 2021 they failed to make the playoffs on the basis of run-rate, in 2022 they finished last with only four wins in the entire tournament. The team had a lot of tough decisions to make at the auction table and the news of ace bowler Jasprit Bumrah being unfit has only pushed the team on the backfoot further. However, in the last year’s Indian T20 League, few youngsters like Thilak Varma and Dewald Brevis showed immense potential and if they turn up and support the likes of Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, Mumbai can still be a strong force to reckon with. Besides, this season will see Jofra Archer also turn up for Mumbai.