Five-time champions Mumbai Indians have a strong core of players who will look to turn things around in the upcoming season. Yes, they had an exceptionally poor last season, which didn’t suit the champions, as they finished tenth. However, they now have the chance to do well in IPL 2025. If we see initially, they retained top international names from Rohit Sharma to Hardik Pandya.
When they entered the auction, they bought a total of 18 players over two days. What stood out was that they secured most of the players at reasonable rates, showing how well they executed their auction tactics. However, some cricket experts have pointed out flaws in the squad, which could cause issues in the upcoming IPL 2025. So, what are those mistakes that could make things difficult for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025? Take a look at all the weaknesses in MI current squad.
Lack of Spinners
It’s no longer a hidden fact that MI doesn’t have quality spin options. Yes, they secured Karn Sharma, Mitchell Santner, and Allah Ghazanfar, but that’s all they have, which could backfire. They don’t have a reliable spin bowling unit. If we look at Karn Sharma and Mitchell Santner, they are the only two they can fully trust. Karn has 84 games in his bag with 76 wickets, but the issue lies in his economy rate of 10.58, which says that MI will need to make some permutations and combinations to make room for Santner more than Karn.
This could create an imbalance in the MI playing XI, as Santner has played in just 18 matches and has taken 15 wickets at an economy rate of 6.92. Therefore, we can expect more Santner than Karn in the XI. According to the rules, only four overseas players are allowed in the playing XI, which, as mentioned, creates an imbalance in the team.
Untested Foreign Players
One of the major issues is that, while they have picked some impressive overseas names, unfortunately, some of them are largely untested. Sure, Will Jacks did an impressive job for RCB in the last IPL, but the lack of experience will eventually catch up. From Bevan-John Jacobs to Afghan champ Allah Ghazanfar, and all eyes will also be on how the team gives a chance to wicketkeeper-batter Ryan Rickelton.
They have so many foreign options, and it seems like there could be issues when selecting the playing XI, as many of these foreign players are relatively new to the IPL. As mentioned the team has solid names like Trent Boult and Mitchell Santner, but that’s all they have. It will be interesting to see how they rotate these inexperienced foreign players and how they use them in the upcoming IPL 2025.
Inexperienced backups
From the lack of quality backups in the pace setup to middle-order batting backups, these are areas to consider, as they do have some quality name but lack of experienced, backups. In batting, they have Robin Minz and Shrijith Krishnan like players, but they all have extremely limited experience in the T20 format, which makes it difficult to decide whom to give a chance in the first few games.
While we could see Robin Minz in the MI playing XI, if not in the first few clashes, then surely after that, but solely relying on one uncapped player who is still looking to make a name for himself that could create an issue for the MI camp. The team will need to address this issue as they head into IPL 2025.
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