Mumbai Indians begin as one of top sides

Mumbai Indianswere the most apt example of why the costliest teams may not necessarily be the best ones in the business of IPL as they crashed out of the tournament without entering the knock-out stage last year. This year though, there seems to be a lot more thought that has got put in the team selections; both at the auctions and off it, and to me, they look one of the favourites to lift the trophy.

Last year’s cup of woes had begin with the captain, Sachin Tendulkar, pulling out of the first few matches with a pulled hamstring, which was followed by a rather startling decision to let Harbhajan Singh lead the side instead of the more experienced and stable, Shaun Pollock or even Sanath Jayasuriya. Blasphemy had followed in the form of the Bhajji-Sreesanth encounter that saw the Sardar getting banned by the tournament director for all the rest of the matches. Pollock did manage to pull the disjointed side back, with the return of Tendulkar also adding to the magical six successive wins, but then a late string of losses had seen them crash out of the tournament.

For Mumbai Indian fans, this year may be different. With both Jayasuriya and Tendulkar fit at the top of the batting order, there are likes of Ajinkya Rahane – one of the future hopefuls – and Shikhar Dhawan – exchanged with the Delhi DareDevils’ bid for Ashish Nehra – and under-19 winner Saurabh Tiwari. Dwayne Bravo should be one all-rounder who should make it to the starting eleven in almost all matches with his ability to hit the ball long and hard working in his favour, while Mumbaikar Abhishek Nayar will prop up the middle-order and the bowling line-up.

If Mumbai’s batting is its strength, then the bowling isn’t too far behind either. With the likes of Zaheer Khan leading the line-up, and Dhawal Kulkarni and Harbhajan Singh in their ranks, Mumbai may need at most one foreign bowler in either Lasith Malinga or Dilhara Fernando to get their bowling in place. Chetanya Nanda is a highly under-rated back-up bowler and I would not be surprised if he returns back as one of the finds of the tournament. With Shaun Pollock joining the team as the bowling coach, it wouldn’t be too difficult to term this team as one to look out for.

The only disadvantage they have is with their wicket-keepers, Yogesh Takawale and Pinal Shah, who are both inexperienced, where as Luke Ronchi may end up increasing the foreigner count in the playing eleven. If planned properly, Ronchi may prove to be a handy number three batsman for the MI team, with a great chance of doing an Adam Gilchrist.

Players to watch out for: Dwayne Bravo, Zaheer Khan
Dark Horse: Chetanya Nanda