The Mumbai Indians side will be looking to put up another great show in this year’s IPL. They are playing their first match against their rivals Chennai Super Kings at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The last time Mumbai Indians faced Chennai Super Kings in an IPL game was in the 2019 IPL final.
Mumbai defeated Chennai in a last-ball thriller to avenge as champions for the fourth time. After winning the 2019 IPL title, Rohit Sharma became the most successful IPL captain in the history of the IPL.
He’s now the most successful captain in the history of Indian Premier League. The ‘Hitman’ took over from Ricky Ponting mid-season in 2013 and hasn’t looked back ever since. In fact, the same season Rohit Sharma took over as captain, Mumbai Indians went on to win the IPL title for the very first time.
If we closely look at the Mumbai Indians franchise they have always relied on the core of Pandya Brothers, Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard and Jasprit Bumrah. Every season they build their team around these four key players. In the past we have seen the likes of Ambati Rayudu, James Franklin play some crucial knocks for the sides in the past.
Even for the upcoming season, the Mumbai management has bought players which support the skill set of the core players. So let us take a look at the players we should watch out for this season which includes both new and old players.
Let’s take a look at the Top 5 players to watch out for Mumbai Indians:
1. Chris Lynn
The man from Australia is one of the most destructive T20 batsmen in international cricket. Over the years we have seen in hit some huge sixes in the Big Bash League for the Brisbane heat. Previously he represented in the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise for over six years until he was released ahead of the 2020 IPL Auction.
Chris Lynn was bought for his base price of 2 Crore rupees in the IPL 2020 auction since there were no other bidders for him. It is expected that Chris Lynn would either open with Rohit Sharma or Quinton de Kock at the top and is expected to give fiery destructive starts to the Mumbai Indians side.
Since his strike rate in the first 6 overs is more than 150 we expect him to hit big if he’s included in the playing XI of Mumbai Indians. While former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar predicted that Lynn will not get a single game, Lynn will certainly be one of the 5 Mumbai Indians players to watch for.
