Major Concerns For Mumbai Indians Before the IPL 2025 Season
Mumbai Indians is one of the most successful franchises of the Indian Premier League (IPL). They have won the IPL title 5 times and will be eyeing it for the 6th time. They did an incredible job in the auction leading to the IPL 2025 season. They have a fiery starting 11 and some reputed names in their squad. However, the road to winning the trophy won’t be an easy task.
They last won the title in the year 2020 since then, they have struggled a lot and made it into the playoffs only 1 time out of the 4 seasons also, they ended up being last in the points table. One of the major reasons behind their struggle was not finding a perfect balance in the squad. This time at least on paper, their IPL 2025 squad is looking like one of the toughest to beat, they have the potential but will also encounter some hindrances on their way to the title.
Let’s look at the concerns for Mumbai Indians in the upcoming IPL:
Rohit is Out of Touch With the T20 setup
Rohit Sharma retired from T20I cricket following the historic T20 World Cup win on 29th June 2024. Since then, Rohit has not played any T20 games and also he is in a declining phase of his career. His test career has been questioned lately. It will be a matter of concern if Rohit is fully fit to be in the shortest format again. He still has all the class, temperament, and ability to tear down any bowling unit. However, with growing age and lack of form on his side, this may be the biggest concern for Mumbai Indians.
Opening Combination Headache
Mumbai Indians decided to let go of Ishan Kishan, who used to be an integral part of their setup for a long time. In the current setup, MI has dominating top-order batsmen, who primarily bat in the top order till number 3. Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, and Naman Dhir at the top of the order look scary for the opposition. Also, it would be a headache for the Mumbai Indians management and captain to select the right combination. The more will be the delay, the lesser their chance of qualifying for the knockouts. They would like to utilize the opportunity to its fullest and have an excellent campaign.
Struggle of Mumbai Indians best batsman
Suryakumar Yadav has been the backbone of Mumbai Indians and the Indian team in the shortest format of the game for a while. A threatening batter could be enough to keep the opponent away from the game, if not stopped. Suryakumar has not been in the solid touch that everyone is aware of, be it internationals, SMAT, or Ranji and that could be a very nig blow for Mumbai. His performance has dropped after the captaincy takeover that’s after the T20 World Cup 2024. He had an average run in the domestic tournaments as well. His poor performance will be concerning for the kind of impact he creates on the team. MI management would like to see him come out of this phase immediately.
No Reliable Finisher
The major flaw in the MI squad is their backup options for the batting and all-round options who usually come around number 5 to 7. However, the major point would be the lack of a distinguished finisher in their setup. The management has banked on Robin Minz, the hard-hitting wicketkeeper from Jharkhand, and also invested in Bevon Jacobs an uncapped player from New Zealand. MI franchise is known for picking the best player from the domestic circuit, and their scouts have been fabulous to date. This gap was already seen in the last IPL 2024 season, and this time also the lack of a distinguished and established finisher could cost them the match at some point.
No Boult and Bumrah Combination
Not only Mumbai Indians stalwart but India’s at present best all-format player Jasprit Bumrah has been out of the team due to an injury since the last test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 at Sydney. Bumrah suffered injury during the match and didn’t attend the field. Since then he has been rested to recover for the Champions Trophy 2025.
Bumrah has been a workhorse and has given the team his every time to win the game. At the moment and even in the history books, he is one of the finest bowlers to pick the ball. Mumbai Indians would want Bumrah to be fully fit for the entire IPL 2025 tournament to create a massive impact along with Trent Boult and Chahar. Deepak Chahar is another weapon in MI’s arsenal that could take the game away in the powerplay itself. But the primary concern would be his injury-prone nature. If the trio of Boult, Bumrah, and Chahar is fit, will be the headache of the opposition in the entire tournament. If one of them gets injured, MI will have a tough time going ahead in the tournament.
These are the few major concerns lie ahead of Mumbai Indians. They must be familiar with all the issues going on at the moment but, with the experience they have in handling such situations, MI will hope for a positive outcome from them.
