Mumbai Indians were plagued by internal rifts and poor form in the previous edition, ending up with a wooden spoon. But a new auction cycle brings new hopes for them in IPL 2025.
Mumbai Indians are the joint most successful franchise in the Indian Premier League with five titles in their cabinet. But since winning back to back championships in 2019 and 2020, they have gone through a forgettable period in the last four years.
In IPL 2021, they finished fifth and missed out on a playoff spot due to poor net run-rate. The next year was a disaster for the Rohit Sharma-led side as they finished at the bottom of the table in the expanded 10-team league. 2023 was much better, where they reached the top four and smashed Lucknow Super Giants in Eliminator before losing to Gujarat Titans.
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2024 was perhaps their worst season in the history of the league as they were not only losing on the field but also had to deal with off-field issues as well. Mumbai Indians traded Hardik Pandya from the Titans and handed him the captaincy, ending Sharma’s 10-year reign. The effects of that on the team environment were quite visible as things keep getting worse for them.
The mega auction came with a huge headache for the MI team management with several star players in contention for retention. They managed to come out of it fairly unscathed, retaining Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Rohit Sharma. Winning the 2023 T20 World Cup also seemed to have helped the players put their issues behind. In the auction, they did a pretty decent job to rebuild the squad. Let’s take a look at 3 factors that could decide their fate this season.
Jasprit Bumrah is the best bowler in the world by some distance and his value for Mumbai Indians can not be stated enough. With the workload and his injury struggles, it is a miracle that he has only missed one IPL season since he first donned the MI jersey back in 2013.
The season he missed, 2023, MI had the worst economy rate in the entire competition. IPL 2024 was the best-scoring season ever and bowlers were taken to the cleaners with records getting broken left, right and centre. In such a nightmarish season for bowlers, Bumrah showed his class, picking 20 wickets at 6.48 runs per over. His economy rate was the best for anyone who bowled more than four overs.
But the superstar fast bowler recently had a grueling tour down under, where he terrorized the Aussie batters but was unable to bowl for the most part in the final Test due to back spasms. The injury has also put his Champions Trophy participation in jeopardy. Bumrah should recover in time for the IPL 2025 but his overall fitness and form will be a key for Mumbai Indians. If he needs to be managed during the season, that could spell disastrous for them.
Mumbai Indians tried their best to give the fans a blockbuster bowling pair of Bumrah and Jofra Archer but that just did materialise. The England speedster missed the 2022 season while the Indian star was sidelined in the following year.
Now they have turned back to their tried and tested Kiwi veteran Trent Boult, who was instrumental in their back to back titles, as well as adding Deepak Chahar to the roster.
These are two of the best exponents of new ball with an ability to move the ball and landing early blows to the opponents. They are in the top four for the most wickets in the powerplay in IPL history. Boult has taken 62 scalps in the first six overs at an economy of 7.05 whereas Chahar has 58 wickets at 7.88 rpo.
The MI home – Wankhede Stadium is arguably the best venue for seamers, offering good bounce and movement. If this pair delivers good results, Mumbai Indians can then have the luxury of backloading Bumrah in the second half of the innings.
The former five-time champions have some stalwarts in their batting line-up but finding the right top seven combination will be a vital factor for their campaign.
MI will continue with Sharma at the top of the order but who could partner him remains a big question. Among top contenders are Ryan Rickleton, Will Jacks and Naman Dhir. Being their best wicket-keeper option in the squad, Rickleton is likely to get this spot. Dhir, on whom they used the RTM card, will be used as a floater given the versatility he provides.
Suryakumar, Varma and Pandya will form a pretty solid middle order. As for the lower middle order, there are multiple routes they could take. The English all-rounder Jacks has batted in the top order for the most of his career but he has the skill set required to be a good finisher. They also have a lesser-known Kiwi batter Devon Jacobs if they wish to unleash him.
MI have been looking for a proper all-rounder in the lower middle for years. They have also struggled to find a quality spinner. In Mitch Santner, they might have found the answer to both.