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Journalism of Courage
Five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians had a torrid season last year, losing an unprecedented eight games in a row at one point. Their batters failed to fire while their bowlers were nullified as the Rohit Sharma-led team finished at the bottom of the table with just four wins from 14 matches.
This time around, Mumbai suffered a huge blow before the IPL had even started when their star bowler Jasprit Bumrah being ruled out of the entire tournament after undergoing back surgery. Since he made his debut in 2013, never has Mumbai had to play the whole season without him in the ranks.
Bumrah’s void will understandably be difficult to fill, but Jofra Archer is more than a suitable replacement. Having been bought by the Indians in the IPL mega auction, Archer had to sit last year’s edition out due to injury. Mumbai knew that but still bought him and you can bet that the Englishman will be champing at the bit to repay the favour in this edition. This might be one of the shrewdest moves that MI have ever pulled off.
The impressive Archer recently played in England’s tour of Bangladesh taking four wickets in the T20I series and five in the ODI series. In franchise cricket, Archer played in the SA20 league for MI Cape Town and finished with 10 wickets in six matches. MI will be hoping he can replicate that form for his parent club when the league begins in earnest.
In the batting department, Mumbai have a treasure trove of talents with skipper Rohit Sharma leading the lines along with Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and recent signing Cameron Green, who was bought for an eye-watering Rs 17.5 crore by MI in the IPL mini auction in December. They also have the exciting South African prodigy Dewald Brevis, the explosive Tim David and Tilak Verma.
With reports doing the rounds that captain Rohit Sharma might sit out a few IPL games to manage his workload for India’s World Test Championship final against Australia in June and the ODI World Cup later in the year, Suryakumar will be donning the captain’s mantle.
With their enviable batting depth, the absence of Rohit for a few games might not harm Mumbai much in that department, considering he’ll still be travelling with the team and give instructions to Surya from the dugout. MI will have to sort out their spin bowling department with Kumar Kartikeya and Hrithik Shokeen the only players likely to make an impact.
Get latest updates on IPL 2025 from IPL Points Table to Teams, Schedule, Most Runs and Most Wickets along with live cricket score updates for all matches. Also get Sports news and more cricket updates.
