IPL 2017: 5 reasons why Parthiv Patel should be dropped

#4 Good starts will ensure that middle-order batsmen play with freedom

Kieron Pollard has been phenomenal

MI have all been about their middle-order batting this year. Nitish Rana, the Pandya brothers along with Kieron Pollard have been phenomenal. Despite losing early wickets, the Rohit led side has won all four games while chasing. That tells how well the middle-order has handled the pressure.

But their batting abilities can be better exploited if they get a good start, which has been lacking thus far.

Therefore, if Sharma opens with Buttler and provides them with a solid start, they should fancy themselves to chase down any total or to put massive total on the board batting first.