All Time Mumbai Indians XI

It is hard to pick an all-time Mumbai Indians XI. They have had some great players who have performed really well. Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard have been an integral part of Mumbai Indians for a very long time.

However, the team has been chopped and changed quite a bit as far as the remaining slots are concerned. The team is the most successful team in IPL history and that makes picking just 11 players an extremely arduous task. Nevertheless, we have picked a team here based on the impact the players made and statistics.

Here are the best eleven players to have donned the famous Mumbai Indians jersey:

Sachin Tendulkar

The Little Master was always ahead of his times in short formats of the game as he showed in his first innings at the top of the order in Auckland decades ago. He took a while to adapt to T20 cricket, but when he did, he made sure he scored runs with equal panache.

Tendulkar was the tournament's highest scorer in 2010 winning the Orange Cap with 618 runs at 47.53 with a strike-rate of 132.6. The next year, he was the third highest scorer with 553 runs at 42.5. One of the most prolific scorers at the top in IPL, Sachin Tendulkar played for just one team, the MI, for whom he was the Icon from start to finish, captaining them to a runners-up finish once, falling heartbreakingly close to a win against CSK.

Sanath Jayasuriya

A big buy for Mumbai Indians in the inaugural edition, Sanath Jayasuriya was one of MI’s best players in a season where they narrowly failed to make the playoffs. Jayasuriya was the third highest scorer in 2008 with 514 runs at an average of 42.83.

He added another 221 runs in the next season although his average and strike-rate dipped a wee bit. The legendary all-rounder also picked up 11 wickets in the two seasons put together with his left-arm spin. With age taking his toll, his stock dropped drastically following that, but his inaugural season where he managed a stupendous strike-rate of 166 with a century and two half-centuries puts him in the bracket of trailblazers, ahead of the modern day T20 greats.

Lendl Simmons

Simmons had just two seasons at MI, but he was brilliant. He managed to play just 8 matches in 2014 but was the team's highest scorer with 394 runs at a whopping average of 56.28 with a strike-rate of 135.4.

When given a full run, he went one step further, finishing second on the runs tally with 540 runs in 13 innings, just 22 short of the Orange Cap winner, David Warner. Simmons got those runs at 45 with 6 half-centuries. Those two seasons at the top are more than enough to ensure he makes it to the all-time MI XI.

Rohit Sharma

Perhaps Mumbai Indians' best player by a mile, Rohit Sharma has been talismanic for the team after being acquired from Deccan Chargers for a massive price. He has scored 372, 433, 538, 390 and 482 runs in the last 5 seasons of IPL respectively, ending up as IPL’s second most prolific run-scorer after Gujarat Lions skipper Suresh Raina (who played for Chennai Super Kings earlier).

Besides, Rohit Sharma also took MI to two title victories, something their owners greatly cherish. An India international, Rohit Sharma was instrumental in beating CSK and his India skipper MS Dhoni, not once but twice in 2013 and 2015 to go with their two Champions League wins in 2011 (Rohit Sharma missed it because of injury) and 2013.

Ambati Rayudu

MI acquired him after BCCI's amnesty to ICL players. He straightaway showed his impact and has managed to be an integral part of the MI squad since 2010, a year in which he and Saurabh Tiwary took the league by storm with their exploits.

Rayudu has had his ups and downs, but has played some critical innings under pressure, scoring 356, 395, 333, 265, 361 and 281 runs in the last 6 seasons, proving himself to be a part of the backbone of the MI batting. He even kept wickets occasionally for MI doing a fair job with it allowing them to play an extra batsman.

Dinesh Karthik

Dinesh Karthik is one of MI’s biggest buys in their history. He makes it to the squad on the basis of one excellent season in 2013 in which he scored 510 runs at 28 in 19 innings, second only to Rohit Sharma with 538 runs in a victorious campaign.

In 2012, Karthik scored 238 runs at 18.3, way below his standards. Nevertheless, he has been MI’s best wicket-keeper batsman till date, although Parthiv Patel did have a very strong season in 2015 to contest that claim.

Kieron Pollard

Kieron Pollard, MI’s second most expensive player after Rohit, has been their bedrock since he was acquired in 2010. Pollard has regularly contributed with bat, ball and on the field for the team playing some spectacular innings, picking wickets in crunch situations and taking some unbelievable catches in the outfield.

His influence in the team can be seen from his numbers in the two victorious campaigns of MI. Pollard scored 419 runs at an average of 38 with a strike-rate of 164 in 2015. In 2013, he managed 420 runs, averaging 42 with a strike-rate close to 149. In the same year, he also contributed with the ball picking up 10 wickets although he has been bowling fewer and fewer overs off late.

Lasith Malinga

IPL’s most prolific wicket-taker, Malinga is a Hall of Famer as far as MI and IPL are concerned. Malinga has been MI’s best bowler since 2009, when he topped their wicket-taking charts with 18 wickets at an economy of 6.3. He won the Purple Cap in 2011 with 28 wickets in 16 matches at an unbelievable economy of 5.95.

Since then he has picked up 22, 20, 16 and 24 wickets in the four seasons respectively despite nursing injuries from time to time. He was IPL’s second highest wicket-taker in 2015 missing out on the Purple Cap by 2 wickets (Bravo had 26 to Malinga’s 24)

Harbhajan Singh

Harbhajan Singh didn’t have a memorable 2008, but has been an MI player all through IPL, constantly retained. He managed 12, 17 (MI’s highest wicket-taker) and 14 in the next three years. After a bad year in 2012, Harbhajan Singh came roaring back with 24 wickets in 2013, when MI won the IPL.

He also led MI to their first Champions League title, in 2011. He picked up 14 and 18 wickets in the last 2 seasons making a comeback to the national squad with his consistency. Bhajji, as he is fondly called, has also won some games for MI with his bat, showing his capability as a powerful hitter down the order.

Munaf Patel

Munaf had two excellent seasons for MI before tapering away in 2013. In 2012, Munaf picked up 15 wickets for MI in 12 matches, to extend his good form from 2011 when he picked up 22 wickets in 15 matches, a number rarely touched by MI bowlers with the exception of Lasith Malinga.

To add to that, Munaf’s economy rate in the 2011 season was 6.58 showing his true value. That is why he edges out bowlers like Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha, Mitchell McClenaghan and Dhawal Kulkarni to make it to this team.

Mitchell Johnson

This was almost a shoot-out between two Mitchells – Johnson and McClenaghan. Both were instrumental in victorious campaigns, Johnson in 2013 and McClenaghan in 2015. Both were spirited, worked up some real pace and bowled left-arm.

However, Johnson edges McClenaghan out narrowly because of his numbers – 24 wickets in 17 matches at 19 with an economy slightly above 7. McClenaghan managed 18 wickets in 12 matches at 21 in 2015. He already has 9 wickets this season which puts him top of the charts and perhaps with another good season in 2016 he will edge Johnson out of this team. But for now, for sheer impact, Johnson is the third fast bowler in the team.