It won’t be a stretch to say that Mumbai Indians is the most successful T20 franchise in the whole wide world of cricket. Having won the coveted IPL trophy five times and the now defunct Champions League twice, Mumbai Indians has set a benchmark for T20 teams all around the world to match up to. The fact that they are now also the owners of a team in the Women’s Premiere League is going to be a massive shot in the arm for women’s cricket. And they have started off on a strong note, conjuring up a star-studded team along with some hidden gems that they have unearthed through their world-class scouting team. Let us do a deep dive into their squad and see how they stack up on paper.

Mumbai Indians WPL 2023 Squad

Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Natalie Sciver, Pooja Vastrakar, Yastika Bhatia, Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, Hayley Matthews, Chloe Tryon, Heather Graham, Isabelle Wong, Priyanka Bala, Dhara Gujjar, Humairaa Kaazi, Jintimani Kalita, Neelam Bisht, Saika Ishaque, Sonam Yadav

Support staff: Charlotte Edwards (Head coach), Jhulan Goswami (bowling coach), Devieka Palshikaar (batting coach), Lydia Greenway (fielding coach)

Mumbai Indians will be led by India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, following the trend of the men’s team which is led by the Indian Men’s team captain, Rohit Sharma. They managed to get Harmanpreet for 1.8 Cr in the auction, which was much less than what was expected of her. This allowed MI to get some other international stars like Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr, and Hayley Matthews and bolster their squad.

They have a great mix of international experience and young and budding Indian talent. Couple that with the stellar support staff comprising Charlotte Edwards, Jhulan Goswami, Devieka Palshikaar, and Lydia Greenway, and you can see how all the ingredients are there for them to carry on the legacy of the franchise.

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Strengths

World-class all-rounders

MI has several top-quality international all-rounders including Nat Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews, Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar, and Chloe Tryon. Harmanpreet can roll her arm over if required as well. This will provide a lot of balance to their XI, allowing them to have a long batting lineup, and several bowling options as well in case any of their main bowlers have an off day.

Death bowling

Death bowling is an area in which most teams fail to excel. Having the right personnel for this aspect of the game is highly necessary and MI seem to have done decently in this regard, at least on paper. They have several high-quality death bowling options in their squad, including spinners and pacers. To give you a perspective, here are the death bowling numbers of some of their bowlers in T20s.

• Nat Sciver-Brunt — 44 wickets @ 8.67 rpo

• Pooja Vastrakar — 4 wickets @ 7.29 rpo
• Heather Graham — 58 wickets @ 7.77 rpo
• Hayley Matthews — 45 wickets @ 7.90 rpo
• Amelia Kerr — 24 wickets @ 7.14 rpo

Variety of spin options

MI has at least three slow left-arm (SLA) options, three off-spinners, and two right-arm leg spinners in their squad. And to add to that variety, they have at least one experienced international player belonging to each of the three categories. For SLA they have Chloe Tryon, for off-spin they have Hayley Matthews and Harmanpreet, and for leg-spin they have Amelia Kerr.

But what makes the spin department of MI the most exciting is the uncapped Indian talent they have. From the youngest player in the tournament — Sonam Yadav, who is just 15 years of age, to one of the most highly-rated leg spinners in the Indian domestic circuit — Neelam Bisht, MI’s spin-bowling stocks are extremely high. Don’t be surprised if they provide at least one, if not two or three, spin-bowling superstars for India in the near future.

Weaknesses

Lack of backup openers

MI has only two first-choice openers in their squad with international experience — Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia. As for backups, Bengal batter Dhara Gujjar is the only other specialist opener in the squad. This can become a bottleneck for them if Matthews, Yastika, or both don’t fire. 

Lack of lefties

MI has just three left-hand batting options in their entire squad. Two of them are Yastika Bhatia and Dhara Gujjar who are designated openers, or at worst will bat in the top three. The only other left-hand batter they have is Assam’s Jintimani Kalita who is primarily a fast bowler. This one-dimensionality of their middle order can cause some problems against teams with high-quality left-arm and leg spinners. 

Apart from this, they also don’t have any left-arm pacer in their squad. While they still have decent right-arm pacers, you would at least want to have the option of a left-arm pacer when you are looking to build a complete squad. And MI have missed out on this.

Uncapped Players to watch out for

Neelam Bisht

Neelam is a highly regarded leg spinner from Punjab. In the 2022 Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, she picked 5 wickets from 6 games at an economy rate of 4.78, while in the 2022–23 Senior Women’s One-Day Trophy, she picked 7 wickets in 7 innings at an economy rate of 3.30.

Humairaa Kaazi

Humairaa Kaazi is a right-handed batting all-rounder from Mumbai. She scored 133 runs in 6 innings in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy last year at a strike rate of 146.15, and also scored the fastest 50 of the tournament — in just 21 balls. She is a clean striker of the ball and is more than handy with the ball as well. In the recently concluded MCA President’s Cup for women, Kaazi picked 10 wickets in 4 matches at an economy rate of 5.76.

Jitnimani Kalita

Kalita is a bowling all-rounder from Assam who bowls right-arm medium pace and bats left-handed. She was one of the top all-rounders in the Women’s U19 One-Day Trophy last year, picking 6 wickets at an economy rate of 2.9 and scoring 137 runs at an average of 34.

Probable Mumbai Indians Playing XI for WPL 2023

Option A:

1. Hayley Matthews (OS)
2. Yastika Bhatia (WK)
3. Dhara Gujjar
4. Harmanpreet Kaur (C)
5. Nat Sciver-Brunt (OS)
6. Amelia Kerr (OS)
7. Amanjot Kaur
8. Pooja Vastrakar
9. Issy Wong (OS)
10. Neelam Bisht
11. Saika Ishaque

Option B:

1. Hayley Matthews (OS)
2. Yastika Bhatia (WK)
3. Nat Sciver-Brunt (OS)
4. Harmanpreet Kaur (C)
5. Amelia Kerr (OS)
6. Chloe Tryon (OS)
7. Amanjot Kaur
8. Pooja Vastrakar
9. Jintimani Kalita
10. Neelam Bisht
11. Saika Ishaque

Verdict

The Mumbai Indians’ men’s team has always come up with stellar squads season in, and season out. The women’s team seems to be no different. They have started off with a bang on paper with an experienced and skilful engine room (read: middle order) full of world-class allrounders. Their complete spin attack gives them a major advantage as they can use it based on the conditions and the opposition. The only thing that might cause them issues is the lack of backup openers, but if Matthews and Yastika step up to the challenge, they should cruise through to the playoffs and might even go all the way to clinch the trophy.