IPL Betting: Mumbai Indians

Indian Premier League - IPL / Andrew Hughes / 09 March 2010 / 1 Comments

Mumbai's favourite son in action

"Keiron Pollard could be the missing piece of the Mumbai jigsaw. His hard-hitting in the lower order could give them the impetus they sometimes lacked last year"

Mumbai have twice been considered amongst the fancied teams in the IPL, yet have twice failed to reach the knock out stages. Andrew Hughes asks whether it might be third time lucky for Sachin Tendulkar's side.

Performance Last Time

Going into IPL 2009 as many people's favourites, the Mumbai Indians once again failed to fulfil their potential. On their day, they could look slick and impressive and at the half-way stage, were still well in contention. But six defeats in their last eight games saw their campaign stall dramatically and with rumours of disagreements between captain Tendulkar and mentor Shaun Pollock, they put in some disjointed and lacklustre performances, plummeting down the table to finish seventh, only the dismal Knight Riders keeping them off the bottom.

Players In/Out

Mumbai bid a hefty $750,000 for rookie West Indian all-rounder Keiron Pollard at the player auction in January. They have also brought in Harshal Patel, from the Indian Under 19 side and three domestic Indian players, Ambati Rayuda, Syed Sahabuddin and Ali Murtaza. Out have gone New Zealand seamer Kyle Mills and the struggling Bangladeshi star Mohammed Ashraful.

Player Availability

Keiron Pollard (after 14/03)
Dwayne Bravo (after 14/03, fitness permitting)

Captain

The legendary Sachin Tendulkar

Key Player

Keiron Pollard could be the missing piece of the Mumbai jigsaw. His hard-hitting in the lower order could give them the impetus they sometimes lacked last year.

Strengths

On paper, their batting is strong with Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya opening and J P Duminy, Bravo and Pollard to follow. They also have one of the strongest bowling attacks in the tournament, led by experienced campaigners Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, with the deadly Lasith Malinga in support.

Weaknesses

He may be one of the greatest batsmen the game has ever seen, but Tendulkar has proven only adequate as a captain. The suspicion is that he is both too laid back and too orthodox and lacks the spark of inventiveness that is sometimes required in this dynamic format. Additionally, key batsmen Jayasurirya and Duminy are on a long run of poor form.

Prospects

Mumbai have an impressive looking squad and those who want to give them another chance will feel that they get a good run for their money. But they were very disjointed at times last year and they needed more of a shake up than just the addition of Keiron Pollard. With too many players out of form and a question mark over the leadership of Tendulkar, the Indians make only limited appeal at [8.0]

Comments (1)

1. Jay | 09 March 2010

   Jayasuriya,Bravo,Pollard,Duminy and malinga cant all play because of the 4 foreign player rule.