Can Team Mumbai lift a record sixth Indian T20 League title?

Team Mumbai enter Indian T20 League 2022 as the most successful team in the competition’s history, with five titles.

Under captain Rohit Sharma, Mumbai missed out on the Indian T20 League 2021 playoffs because of a lower net run-rate (0.116) in comparison to Team Kolkata (0.587).

Unlike other teams, Mumbai didn’t invest in buying back some of their star performers from their past campaigns such as Hardik Pandya,  Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar and Trent Boult.

In all, Mumbai spent a whopping INR 89.9 crore to assemble a squad that is an outright title contender for Indian T20 League 2022.

Here we analyze what they have in the offering for the 2022 season.

Team Mumbai squad

Ahead of the Indian T20 League 2022 mega auction, Mumbai retained four players in captain Rohit Sharma (INR 16 crore), Jasprit Bumrah (INR 12 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (INR 8 crore) and Kieron Pollard (INR 6 crore).

With INR 48 crore left in their purse for the mega auction held in Bengaluru last month, the five-time champions shelled out INR 15.25 crore on buying back Ishan Kishan, who ended up being the most expensive buys at the auction. The franchise also bolstered its ranks with overseas stars such as Tim David (INR 8.25 crore), Jofra Archer (INR 8 crore) and Dewald Brevis (INR 3 crore).

Team Mumbai squad for Indian T20 League 2022: Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Dewald Brevis, Anmolpreet Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Aryan Juyal, Basil Thampi, Murugan Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Tymal Mills, Riley Meredith, N Tilak Varma, Sanjay Yadav, Jofra Archer, Daniel Sams, Tim David, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Ramandeep Singh, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Fabian Allen

Team Mumbai strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Team Mumbai went slow in the Indian T20 League mega auctions but managed to recruit players who would fit in core positions. In Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard and Ishan Kishan, the franchise have retained their core batting quartet.

The additions of Dewald Brevis, Tim David and Fabian Allen add more composure to Mumbai’s batting strengths and the record winners will be one of the few teams backed to excel in the batting department in Indian T20 League 2022.

Weakness

Perhaps a major area where Mumbai visibly lacks some depth is the bowling department. Speaking of powerplay overs, the departure of Trent Boult means the franchise have lost a key match-winner with 21 powerplay wickets in 29 innings.

With new signing Jofra Archer set to miss the 2022 edition, Mumbai will heavily rely on Jasprit Bumrah as their death overs specialist. However, with Rohit likely to experiment with Jaydev Unadkat, Tymal Mills, Riley Meredith and Basil Thampi, it is to be seen how Mumbai can fill the void left behind by Boult.

Murugan Ashwin has been brought in as a like-for-like replacement for Rahul Chahar. But given the 31-year-old has not featured heavily for his previous teams, Mumbai will be under pressure to find the right fix in the spin department

Who can be the highest run-scorer for Team Mumbai?

Rohit Sharma stands out as a hit favourite for the Orange Cap. The Mumbai captain is one of the four Indian batters to amass over 5,000 runs in the Indian T20 League, and currently has 5,611 runs in 213 matches.

However, with the signings of Tim David and Dewald Brevis, Rohit could face some healthy competition for most runs this season apart from regular hard-hitters Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard offering support.

Who can be the highest wicket-taker for Team Mumbai?

Jasprit Bumrah will continue as Mumbai’s front line pacer in the Indian T20 League 2022 campaign. The Indian pacer has 130 wickets in 106 career matches at an economy of 7.41. Bumrah will find pace support in Jaydev Unadkat, Tymal Mills, Riley Meredith and Basil Thampi.

Where will Team Mumbai finish in Indian T20 League 2022?

Mumbai have made it through to the playoffs stage in nine of 14 seasons, and are fancied to qualify for the knockouts in Indian T20 League 2022. The new-look team overflows with potential on paper, and thus, there is no reason why they cannot qualify for the latter stage of the tournament.

Mumbai Indian T20 League 2022 schedule, fixtures and match times

All times are in India Standard Time (IST)

Author: William Paul

Featured photo: AFP / Arun Sankar