Having won the Indian Premier League (IPL) titles in 2013 and 2015, Mumbai Indians (MI) will kick off the ninth season of the tournament with an aim to add a third silverware to their trophy cabinet and become the first IPL team to do so.
The defending champions have a settled unit this season too, as they retained the core of their squad - Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, Kieron Pollard, Lendl Simmons, Corey Anderson, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Unmukt Chand and Marchant de Lange - ahead of the IPL Players' Auction earlier this year.
With support staff comprising of Indian bating maestro Sachin Tendulkar as mentor, Ricky Ponting as head coach, Shane Bond as bowling coach and Jonty Rhodes as fielding coach, MI will once again be the team to watch out for this season.
STRENGTHS: Mumbai Indians have maintained a pool of match-winning players over the years, which remains their strength. In particular, they have three brilliant seam-up allrounders – Pollard, Anderson and Pandya - who have the skills that can change the course of a game. Anderson and Pandya did well in the recently-concluded ICC World Twenty20, while Pollard will return to cricket from an injury layoff.
WEAKNESSES: Mumbai will definitely want to start well this season, which is something they haven't been able to do consistently. It can be termed as their weakness that they take time to get going in the league, which can hurt as it's not easy to come back every time in such a highly competitive field.
CHANCES: MI look a balanced side on paper but much will depend on how they start the tournament and then take that momentum towards the business end for a title push in the playoffs.
