Preview: Mumbai Indians strike right balance for IPL 2015

Traditionally Mumbai Indians always had balanced squads in terms of their local talent and overseas recruits, but in 2014 the think-tank erred and found themselves short of quality uncapped Indian players. They were found wanting big time when the marquee players too failed to deliver early in the tournament. But they did manage to script remarkable turnaround to make it to the knockout stages of IPL 7 and heading into the eighth edition of the tournament, they have built a squad that has the potential to beat the best.

Last season, Mumbai had failed to find a solid opening pair and this year they have included Aaron Finch and Unmukt Chand to go with retained players - Lendl Simmons and Aditya Tare, giving MI solidity at the top. MI's trump card Lasith Malinga was not in good form in IPL 7 and losing Zaheer Khan early came as a major blow, and this year they have opted to reinforce their bowling unit by adding domestic heavyweights Vinay Kumar and Abhimanyu Mithun. New Zealander Shane Bond has joined the star-studded MI support staff of Ricky Ponting, Rahul Sanghvi and Robin Singh. And with a host of exciting young talents like Siddhesh Lad, Jagadeesha Suchith, Mitchell McClenaghan and Hardik Pandya to go with T20 powerhouses Kieron Pollard, Corey Anderson, Finch and Simmons, MI seem to have got their combination right this time around.

Captain:

Rohit Sharma

Coach:

Ricky Ponting

Previous IPL standings:

2008 5th, 2009 7th, 2010 Runners-up, 2011 Playoffs, 2012 Playoffs, 2013 Winners, 2014 Playoffs

How they fared in IPL 7:

After starting their IPL 7 campaign on a disastrous note that saw the 2013 IPL winners losing their first four games in UAE, MI came back strongly during the Indian leg of the tournament notching up seven wins in nine games to make it to the knockout stages. However, they failed to sustain the momentum, losing the Eliminator to CSK. It seemed Mumbai had missed a trick during the 2014 auctions, letting go of big names like Dwayne Smith (CSK), Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Johnson (Kings XI Punjab), but a smart-mid season inclusion in the form of Simmons rejuvenated their campaign and despite lack of support from the local players and losing Zaheer to injury early on and Malinga after ten games, the Rohit Sharma-led team scrapped through to the knockouts courtesy an unbelievable chase of 190 in 14.4 overs in their last league game against Rajasthan Royals.

New Additions:

Aaron Finch, Unmukt Chand, Mitchell McClenaghan, Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun, Nitish Rana, Jagadeesha Suchith, Hardik Pandya.

Key Players:

Without doubt majority of MI's success will still revolve around the quartet of Rohit Sharma, Lasith Malinga, Kieron Pollard and Corey Anderson, but Finch brings in the X-factor to the team. MI had struggled with their opening pair last season and Finch will have a big role to play at the top of the order, even though that means Simmons might have to warm the benches. With Malinga looking out of form in the World Cup, MI have got able replacements in Josh Hazlewood and McClenaghan and additions of Vinay and Mithun to go with Harbhajan and Shreyas Gopal means they have one of the best domestic bowling units.

Chances for IPL 8:

Mumbai have a squad that can succeed in any conditions and with ample bench strength they should not have any problems even if they lose a few players to injury. The best part of MI squad is that they have got quality replacements for batting and bowling position. Finch and Chand are likely to be first choice openers with Simmons and Tare as back-ups, while they have Blizzard and Pandiya for the middle-order and Mithun and Jaspreet Bumrah as back-up fast bowlers.

Prediction:

Looking at the squad, Mumbai have all their bases covered and they should make it to the playoffs with ease.

Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Corey Anderson, Aiden Blizzard, Jasprit Bumrah, Unmukt Chand, Marchant de Lange, Aaron Finch, Shreyas Gopal, Harbhajan Singh, Josh Hazlewood, Siddhesh Lad, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga, Abhimanyu Mithun, Pragyan Ojha, Hardik Pandya, Parthiv Patel, Kieron Pollard, Nitish Rana, Ambati Rayudu, Lendl Simmons, Jagadeesha Suchith, Pawan Suyal, Aditya Tare, Vinay Kumar, Akshay Wakhare