IPL 2023 Season Review: Mumbai Indians (MI)

After losing the Qualifier 2 of IPL 2023 to GT, Mumbai Indians crashed out of the tournament with 9 wins in 16 matches this season.

Captain Rohit Sharma and Mumbai Indians management proved their mettle once again in scripting one of the greatest comebacks in the Indian Premier League. In the IPL 2022, they won the wooden spoon finishing 10th in the points table. MI, after losing two back-to-back games at the start of IPL 2023 finished 3rd after losing in Qualifier 2 against Gujarat Titans. MI got that result in the absence of their prime pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah and a new sensation in pace bowling Jofra Archer. Archer played only 5 games in the IPL 2023. This came as a big positive for Mumbai Indians. After a few big departures, they were shaken a bit to strike the right balance in their squad. But the youngsters like Tilak Verma, Nehal Wadhera, Akash Madhwal, Tim David, and Cameron Green have provided Mumbai an opportunity to look to the future positively. MI lacked confidence in their youngsters previous season but the IPL 2023 has given MI management a better look and confidence in the tournament.

When the season began, everyone was looking at the likes of Archer, Rohit, Surya, and Kishan but as the season progressed fans were chanting the names of Nehal, Tilak, Green, David, and Madhwal proudly. Along with them, there was another experienced name Piyush Chawla who took responsibility in Bumrah, Archer’s absence. He ended up as Mumbai’s leading wicket-taker with 22 wickets in 16 games. Chawla’s spin proved magical and a crucial partnership breaker when needed. Surykumar Yadav had a poor start to the season and continued his duck-scoring streak. The same was the situation with Ishan and Rohit. As the season progressed, the likes of Tilak Verma, Nehal Wadhera, and Cameron Green started taking responsibility for the batting order. Tilak, showing his prowess in the IPL 2022, had another magical season with the bat. Cameron Green, and Tim David’s power made Mumbai chase 200 plus total thrice this season. Away from the glamour of seniors, IPL 2023 is a season of young and upcoming stars in the Mumbai Indians.

Fact Sheet:

Mumbai Indians finished third in the IPL 2023 with 16 points and 8 wins in their league games. They defeated Lucknow Super Giants in the Eliminator at Chepauk to fix their clash against Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier two. Mumbai failed to win a crucial encounter against Titans and were knocked out of the tournament.

Top Performers

Leading Run Scorer - Suryakumar Yadav:

Mumbai Indians were banking mostly on Suryakumar Yadav in the middle order. SKY had a few initial failures but he managed to find support for himself in the batting order and came back in-form in style. Suryakumar Yadav’s century against Gujarat Titans is still fresh in everyone’s memory. SKY scored 605 runs in 16 games this season and ended up as the leading run-scorer for Mumbai Indians. He batted with a strike rate of 181.13 with a century and 5 fifties.

Leading Wicket taker - Piyush Chawla:

Mumbai Indians' experienced leg-spinner Piyush Chawla ended up as the leading wicket-taker for Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2023. Piyush Chawla after missing out on mega auction got the opportunity from Mumbai Indians this season and had a turnaround in his fading career. Chawla in 16 games for Mumbai picked up 22 wickets with a brilliant economy rate of 8.11, he was a crucial partnership breaker for MI in the entire season.

The Underperformer of the Season

Chris Jordan

Coming in as Jofra Archer’s replacement, Chris Jordan had a poor season with Mumbai Indians. Jordan was used as a death-over specialist but out of 6 innings he conceded more than 40 runs in his spell four times. Jordan conceded 56 runs against Gujarat Titans in the qualifier two games at Chepauk. He picked only 3 wickets in 6 games with an economy of 10.77.

Rohit Sharma:

Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma started poorly in the IPL 2023 but as the season progressed he got a few good innings to better his stats in the season. In the last 10 innings, Rohit scored only one half-century. Rohit in 16 IPL innings scored 332 runs at an average of 20.75, Rohit smashed only 17 sixes and 35 fours this season.

Special mentions

Mumbai Indians found an x-factor in Cameron Green. Green played a few crucial knocks for Mumbai to provide them with important wins when needed. Green was instrumental in Mumbai Indians success with both, bat and ball. His innings against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last league game powered Mumbai Indians into the playoffs. He scored 452 runs in 16 innings at an outstanding average of 50.22 and strike rate of 160.28 with a century and two fifties. He picked up 6 wickets with the ball.

Top team performance

On 30th April, Mumbai Indians made their case count in the race for playoffs when they chased down 214 against Rajasthan Royals at Wankhede. Tim David played a brilliant 14-ball cameo scoring 45 runs to gain momentum in the season. David smashed 5 sixes and 2 fours in his cameo. David’s inning overpowered Yashasvi Jaiswal’s century and also pulled Mumbai Indians together for the rest of the season.

Captain’s report card:

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma was instrumental in the team's success as a leader. Rohit with his strategies around youngsters once again proved why he is the most successful captain in the Indian Premier League and Indian Cricket. After trusting seniors in the first few games, Rohit switched back-to-back their youngsters. Rohit was poor with the bat.

Lessons to be learned

Mumbai Indians need to find a balance in their pace bowling attack. They lacked consistency in the entire season and often they have conceded more than 200 plus scores. With Jasprit Bumrah’s comeback next season Mumbai will need a formidable attack to support MI’s X-factor. In the IPL 2022, when the team was rallying around Bumrah for the entire season they failed miserably. Bowlers like Akash Madhwal and Jason Behrendorff are a big positive sign for Mumbai.