IPL team profile: Mumbai Indians to lean on four captains, not just Pandya

A few days back, Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya admitted how life had undergone a 360 degrees swing for him over the past year. He will be hoping for the same with his team as the allrounder leads the quest of the five-time IPL champions to shake off the memories of a nightmarish campaign last season.

 The mood in the Mumbai Paltans camp has undergone a sea change in between – a lot of which has to do with the national team’s success rate in white ball cricket in the past 12 months. The controversy over Rohit Sharma’s unceremonious removal from captaincy looks a lot diffused at the moment with him spearheading India’s ending of a long drought of ICC trophies in style with the T20 World Cup and the recent ICC Champions Trophy.

 This will put the ‘Hitman’ in a far better frame of mind as a member of the leadership group, while Suryakumar Yadav’s elevation as India’s T20 captain means that the super egos will rest easy and allow Pandya to focus on his job. The latter’s contribution in the two success stories mentioned above is likely to put Pandya in a far better frame of mind than last year when he had just come out of the freak injury lay-off.

Pandya alluded to their power of collective wisdom in the season-opening press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday: ‘’I am lucky that I have three captains playing with me (Jasprit Bumrah also captained India in Tests). It adds more and more experience for me. I know when I require help, there are three different minds who have led India in different formats and with so many years of experience who are always there to put their arm around my shoulders and be there for me.’’

 There is no doubt that the MI management has fallen back to some of their core strength which once made them almost an unbeatable combination. The five retentions were automatic choices in Rohit, Surya, Hardik, Bumrah and Tilak Verma while in a significant move, they quietly sacked head coach Mark Boucher and re-installed Mahela Jayawardene in the role. Not only was the Sri Lankan legend a part of their two title-winning captains in the past, but he is known to enjoy a close rapport with Rohit.

 The pace attack of the team looks a handful after a few years – with Bumrah being the leader of the pack. His value is evident in his remarkable numbers with 80 scalps at an average of 19.5 while he picked up 20 of them at 16.80 last year. The return of Kiwi veteran Trent Boult gives them quality and experience – with him taking 45 wickets during his stay with Rajasthan Royals in the last cycle.

The third seamer in their ranks is the gifted Deepak Chahar, whose career had been a chequered one due to the series of injuries. Chahar, who once possessed the best individual bowling figures in an innings in T20I, can swing the ball and can be counted as an useful lower order batter as well.

 It's their spin department which looks a little thin though they have added Mitchell Santner, the thinking left-arm spinner and T20 captain for New Zealand. Leg spinner Karn Sharma, a journeyman in the IPL, is the lone experienced Indian spinner in their ranks – but he had been showing poor returns in recent years.

 MI play their first two games away against Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans, before coming home to Wankhede to play their first game against KKR. Surya, incidentally, will be leading the team in the first game as Pandya will not be available.  The latter sent an appeal to the MI fans: ‘’Iss bar koi aur colour nahi dikhna chahiye (no other colour should be seen this year. Just make noise. When I come out to bat, bowl, at the toss, just make noise.’’

 The familiar swagger in him seems to be back!

 Full squad

Hardik Pandya (captain), Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, Karn Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Deepak Chahar, Allah Ghazanfar, Will Jacks, Ashwani Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Reece Topley, Krishnan Shrijith, Raj Angad Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju, Bevon Jacobs, Arjun Tendulkar, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur.