IPL 2019: 3 Captaincy options for Mumbai Indians if Rohit Sharma is rested during the tournament

Mumbai Indians (MI) will kick off their IPL campaign on March 24 against Delhi Capitals. With a mixture of youth and experience, MI would hope to put their hands on the coveted trophy for the fourth time. Along with the middle order issues from last year, Mumbai will also have to deal with concerns regarding the availability of their star players.

Since the World Cup will commence soon after the conclusion of IPL, some players from the national team will be asked or demanding for rest. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that MI will be the most affected team with the resting of their players. Captain Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah are key members of the Indian team and therefore they will need ample amount of rest to be fit for the mega event in England.

With three IPL titles, Rohit Sharma stands right up with MS Dhoni as the most successful captain in the history of IPL. Missing out on a leader could be detrimental for Mumbai’s cause to regain the trophy.

Here we look at the options which MI have who can be named stand-in captain if Rohit is rested:

1. Suryakumar Yadav

MI bought SKY for a whopping Rs 3.2 Crore and he has justified every penny of it. As a middle-order batsman, he played important cameos for KKR, and it was his impressive strike rate which prompted the MI management to entrust him with the opening duties. Surya had his best IPL last year scoring over 500 runs at a strike rate of 133.

He has become a pivotal member of the MI squad. The 28-year-old has captaincy experience as he had already led the Mumbai team in Ranji trophy in 2015 but was scrapped of it midway and replaced by Aditya Tare. Surya was also KKR’s vice-captain which is a testament of his excellent temperament. Youngsters like Shreyas Iyer and Karun Nair too have led their respective IPL teams, therefore he seems to be the frontrunner to lead MI if Rohit isn’t available.