IPL 2023: 5 MI Players who could be benched throughout the season

After a terrible season in the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), five-time champions Mumbai Indians went shopping and bought the likes of Cameron Green, Jhye Richardson, Piyush Chawla, and Shams Mulani among many others ahead of the new season. Their ever-so-dependable all-rounder Kieron Pollard has announced his retirement from the cash-rich league while the franchise decided to release few quality players like Jaydev Unadkat, Daniel Sams and Fabian Allen among many others. Thus, the Rohit Sharma-led team have made quite some changes to the squad and is once again looking like a team that can challenge for the title. They have plenty of quality options at the moment and have multiple players who can be absolute game changers. However, not all players will have an opportunity to excel in the league. Since the franchise doesn’t prefer to chop and change its playing XI, a set number of players will be seen donning the Mumbai jersey in the coming season. On the other hand, other players will have to wait for their opportunity. 5 players who might not get an opportunity to represent MI in 2023 5. Mohammed Arshad Khan Courtesy of so many quality pacers in the Mumbai Indians setup, 25-year-old Mohammed Arshad Khan is very unlikely to get an opportunity in the playing XI. The cricketer recently featured for Madhya Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he picked up three wickets from as many matches. With the bat, he scored 40 runs but that isn’t convincing enough for an all-rounder. He was bought by the franchise in the IPL auction 2022 but didn’t get a single chance to prove himself. The all-rounder was, however, retained and more so because the team management decided to release Jaydev Unadkat. Being a left-arm pacer, he can add value and dynamics to the squad but is very unlikely to make his debut. He will mostly be used to train the Mumbai batters. Skipper Rohit Sharma and many other batters often struggle against left-arm pacers and he can be used to train the cricketers to excel in this department. 4. Vishnu Vinod Vishnu Vinod is third in the pecking order of Mumbai Indians. Ishan Kishan is the number one choice for the wicket-keeper role, with Tristan Stubbs as his backup. Thus, despite doing reasonably well in the domestic tournament over the years, Vishnu might warm the bench for the entire season. In 50 T20 matches he played, the 29-year-old has scored 1191 runs at a strike rate of 138.81. He played only three matches in the history of the Indian Premier League, scoring just 19 runs. He was also pretty ordinary in the latest edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy and thus, it will be very difficult for him to make the cut. However, if he manages to prove himself in the nets, Vinod can make it as an impact player but that too looks very unlikely given Mumbai’s bench strength. 3. Arjun Tendulkar Despite being a part of the Mumbai-based franchise for a long time now, Arjun Tendulkar is yet to make his debut in the Indian Premier League. In the last edition, when the Rohit Sharma-led side was playing very poor cricket, it was expected that the franchise will hand Arjun his first opportunity but that never arrived. Thus, this year, when Mumbai improved their bowling order significantly, it is very unlikely that the franchise will give the 23-year-old his first breakthrough. After not getting enough opportunities for Mumbai in domestic cricket, the youngster went to train under Yograj Singh before making his debut for Goa in 2022. He has done reasonably well so far in domestic cricket but that isn’t convincing enough for the cricketer to get an opportunity and make his debut in the IPL. Notably, Arjun has played nine T20 matches so far in his career, picking 12 wickets at an economy rate of 6.60. 2. Tristan Stubbs The young sensation Tristan Stubbs replaced English pacer Tymal Mills in the last edition of the IPL. He got only a couple of chances to prove himself but failed terribly and thus, despite being retained, the 22-year-old can only be seen warming the bench for the entire tournament. He, however, remains to be an exciting prospect for the future and that’s the reason behind Mumbai’s investment. The cricketer is featuring in the ongoing SA20 league and it will be interesting to see how he performs as his impact can determine his future in the Indian Premier League. Overall, the South Africa international has played 41 T20 matches, scoring 838 runs at a strike rate of 155.76. He likes to play an aggressive brand of cricket and that might accelerate his chance of getting an opportunity in IPL but he is pretty behind in the pecking order at the moment. 1. Dewald Brevis Popularly known as ‘Baby AB’, Dewald Brevis has the potential to be a match-winner in the shortest format of the game. Like Stubbs, the cricketer prefers to play an aggressive brand of cricket but that hasn’t resulted in his favour so far in the Indian Premier League. The batter was bought by the Mumbai-based franchise for INR 3 crore in the IPL auction 2022. He played seven matches in the season, scoring 161 runs at a strike rate of 142.48. Now, despite playing with a good strike rate, Brevis’ consistency is a matter of concern and thus, he might have to warm the bench in the upcoming season. As things stand, the five-time champions are likely to field Cameron Green, Jofra Archer, Tim David and either Jhye Richardson or Jason Behrendorff as their four foreign players. Thus, Brevis or other foreign players may have to do something brilliant in order to get into the team. For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS App Store and Google Play Store

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IPL 2023: 5 MI Players who could be benched throughout the season

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