After missing out on the playoffs in the 2021 and 2022 editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Mumbai Indians (MI) saw an upturn in fortunes earlier this year.
Rohit Sharma and Co. moved to Qualifier 2 after they beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Eliminator. Gujarat Titans (GT) ensured they didn’t move further in the competition. Despite a few high-profile injuries, this was a decent tournament.
Mumbai is a team that makes plans for the future and has one eye on the IPL 2024 season. The five-time winners are aware that they can improve. But they might need to replace a few names to do so.
Mumbai Indians IPL 2023 campaign
The IPL 2023 may be over, but while it’s still fresh in our minds, let’s take a close look back at the Mumbai Indians campaign. Everything, including the many moments of shock, the prospects for the future, and the moments of defeat, is included in some kind of season-ending report ahead of the IPL 2024 season.
One area where MI was one of the best performers was batting. The batters showed no fear in trying for the high totals, whether they were chasing them down or hitting several quick-fire centuries. It makes sense that this time around, we broke some historic records.
Like every season, the younger players keep rewriting a brand-new IPL destiny for themselves. Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera, for example, took this chance and delivered a flawless show with the bat.
In the IPL 2023, Piyush Chawla and Akash Madhwal transformed Mumbai Indians bowling. A true revelation, Madhwal bowled with accuracy towards the end, ending with 14 wickets in eight games after a 5/5 show in the Eliminator. After a year away, PC came back and turned the clock back to become our top wicket-taker in the 2023 edition. He claimed to be performing for his son, and wow, was he ever great!
Now that it’s a habit, it shouldn’t surprise anyone, but let’s say it anyway. Surya was scoring runs for fun. He dominated this IPL, scoring 605 runs at an average of 43.21 in 16 matches, including a century and five fifty-sevens.
Tim David and Cameron Green officially took over from Kieron Pollard by winning games in the middle order.
Now, ahead of the IPL 2024 auction, three important MI players are at risk of being released
Chris Jordan
Midway into the IPL 2023, Chris Jordan was added as a backup, and once Archer left, he was named to the starting lineup. Despite putting on an oddly great show, the Englishman’s well-known problems with consistency and economy again reappeared.
In six games, Jordan only managed to take three wickets, bowling at a poor economy rate of 10.77. He was ineffective on the field and unable to bring in any good show with the bat. The fast bowler’s final stretch of the season performances went against MI.
Jofra Archer
Will Mumbai Indians ultimately decide to quit the Jofra Archer project? Despite knowing he wouldn’t take part that season. They spent a huge sum for the quick pacer at the IPL 2022 auction. In IPL 2023, Archer made his long-awaited MI debut but came out as unfocused.
With many batters finding the generally unhittable fast bowler appealing, he only took two wickets at an economy rate of 9.5 in five games. The Englishman’s body started to fail, ending yet another whole season and depriving MI of any huge firepower in the pace attack.
Archer has only played in five games during the past two seasons. But his fees have been huge for the franchise. Although it would be exciting to see him bowl with Jasprit Bumrah. But MI might have to put their dreams aside and face the facts before the start of IPL 2024.
Jhye Richardson
If Jhye Richardson hadn’t been ruled out from the IPL 2023 before the first ball was bowled, he most likely would have had a huge part to play. Because of Jofra Archer’s fragile body, MI used two foreign pacers.
Richardson has dominated most T20 contests when he has been able to keep himself in shape. He is a shrewd operator who can bowl at all parts of the innings and also bat a little bit. But, that hasn’t happened all that frequently.
Since January 2023, Richardson hasn’t taken part in a competitive cricket match. Even if Mumbai Indians decide not to keep Riley Meredith, who served as his injured replacement during the previous season, they are likely to overlook the Australian player for IPL 2024 season with a history of injuries.
