IPL 2018: 5 reasons why Mumbai Indians might not win the title

Mumbai Indians' performance at the IPL auction day was below par: there were too many baffling decisions. While the squad has copious resources in one department, there are insufficiencies in others.

Their decision of not using the Right-To-Match card on Jos Buttler raised a few eyebrows as he is considered to be one of the best finishers in the modern game. Similarly, their inability to prevent Harbhajan Singh join their arch-rivals, Chennai Super Kings, did not go well with many fans.

Mumbai Indians management, this time, focused on signing a lot of youngsters which is a complete transformation in their usual strategy. They usually buy the best and proven players in the market. Only time will tell whether this strategy will work out or not.

This not-so-distributed squad will be tested by many teams this season. Here are the five reasons why Mumbai Indians might not win their fourth IPL title this season.

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#1 Inexperienced opening combination

Is Evin Lewis another Richard Levi for MI?

Mumbai Indians will most probably go with Evin Lewis and Ishan Kishan as their openers. Though Lewis has scored a couple of hundreds, he is too inexperienced in the International circuit.

Mumbai Indians had the experience of trusting Richard Levi as an opening batsman after his short successful International stint. The purchase of Richard Levi was considered one of the biggest flops in the IPL history.

Similarly, Ishan Kishan is too inexperienced. He has only played 40 T20 games so far. His batting average of 22.9 is not even close to the lofty MI standards. He is not a big hitter of the cricket ball and having him open the game for Mumbai Indians probably not a smarter move.

Rohit Sharma will not open the batting to provide some stability in the middle-order. If one of these two fails, MI doesn't have a solid third opener.

#2 Poor form of the Pandya brothers

Pandya bothers are going through a torrid run form this season

Both Hardik and Krunal played a pivotal role in MI winning the IPL trophy last season. That is the reason MI retained Hardik and bought Krunal for more than eight crores. However, the current form of these all-rounders will be a big concern for MI camp.

Hardik Pandya is in the middle of a torrid run of form in all formats of the game. He neither could deliver with the bat nor with the ball. His scores in the last 15 T20I games - 0, 2, 1, 15, 9, 2, 11, 25, 0, 1, 14*, 10, 4, 13*, 21 - makes us question his batting ability. His bowling as the fifth bowler was nothing but ordinary.

Krunal Pandya is also going through a rough patch in the domestic T20 games. In the 2018 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the domestic T20 competition, Krunal scored just nine runs from his four innings for Baroda. His bowling was also mediocre as he could manage only four wickets from his four matches. The worrying part is, he didn't complete his quota of four overs in three of the four occasions.

Mumbai must be hoping that the Pandya brothers will regain their form before the IPL begins.

#3 Lack of quality spinners in the squad

Chahar is the only recognized Indian spinner in their squad

The spin department looks wafer thin for Mumbai Indians. Last year, they had Harbhajan Singh to lead the spin attack. Mumbai Indians will regret missing out on the experienced Indian spinner. He played a pivotal role in Mumbai Indians winning three IPL trophies.

They have bought Rahul Chahar and Akila Dananjaya as their specialist spinners. Chahar is an 18-year old leg spinner who has just played eight T20s so far. Dananjaya also had a mediocre T20 stint for Sri Lankan cricket team. It is mystifying to understand Mumbai Indians' thought process behind the team selection as far as spin bowling is concerned.

The three-time IPL champions can use the support of all-rounders like Krunal Pandya, Anukul Roy and JP Duminy to fill the void in the spin department. However, the shortcoming in spin department is the chink in Mumbai Indians' armour this time.

How will Mumbai Indians line up on a spinner friendly track like Chepauk?

All the other seven teams have strengthened the spin department much better than Mumbai Indians. The champions can expect a spinner friendly track in most of their away games.

#4 Rohit Sharma's inconsistency in the shortest format

Rohit Sharma's inconsistency in the game has been on the rise in the past 12 months

The 'Hitman' of Indian Cricket is a mixture of talent and inconsistency: no one in the world is capable of scoring big hundreds like Rohit. He has four T20 hundreds to his name along with two T20I hundreds.

On the flip side, he also has the most zeroes for an Indian in International cricket in the past five years. The Mumbai Indians captain now has 12 ducks against his name in the last five years.

How contrasting are the statistics! Here is a sample of Rohit's consistency. His scores in the last ten limited overs game - 15, 0, 5, 115, 15, 21, 0 ,11, 0, 17. This has been the pattern of Rohit's performance in the past few months.

His recent form will worry the Mumbai Indians camp as they are overly depending on their captain to deliver with the bat.

#5 No overseas keeper in the squad

Bairstow could have added the batting depth to the fragile MI lineup

Mumbai Indians might have missed the trick of not using the Right-to-Match option for Jos Buttler. Rajasthan bid strongly for the English keeper, beating Mumbai Indians to get him for just Rs 4.4 crores. Buttler has scored 527 runs in two IPL seasons for MI, at an impressive strike-rate of 145.98.

Nasser Hussain highlighted the importance of Buttler in an interview: "I think the best bid, in terms of getting your money's worth, is Jos Buttler because I think he is the most exciting white-ball finisher - as we saw in the third ODI against Australia," said the former England captain.

It's surprising to see Mumbai Indians not bidding for any other overseas keeper. Mumbai could have gone for Quinton De Kock. At Rs. 2.8 crores, De Kock was an outright steal for RCB. Mumbai could have gone for unsold keepers like Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings for their base price.

Now, they have to rely on the 19-year-old Ishan Kishan to deliver. If he fails, only Aditya Tare is there for backup. Trusting on a 19-year old is a big and a risky gamble for Mumbai Indians.