IPL 2017: Mumbai Indians (MI) Probable Playing XI

Middle Order

Rohit Sharma will finally make a return

Rohit Sharma

After being out for nearly 5 months, Rohit Sharma will finally be back in action for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL. There was a lot of speculation about his return, but he confirmed that he would be available for the tournament.

He is arguably one of the best ODI players today and will play a vital role in Mumbai’s batting line-up at no. 3. He led Mumbai Indians to the title in 2013 and 2015 as well. He was named as the man of the match in the final of the 2015 edition for his quick fire half century.

He has 142 matches in his IPL in his career and is just 116 runs short of the 4000 run mark. He average 33.68 with a strike rate of 131.72 with 29 half-centuries and one century to his name.

Ambati Rayudu

Ambati Rayudu is one of the few players who must feel hard done by the fact that he has hardly ever played for the Indian cricket team despite consistently performing well at the domestic level.

Rayudu had a fantastic first-class career before he made a decision to switch to the rebel Indian Cricket League in 2007 and that was when we witnessed a decline in his career.

However, he made a return to domestic cricket in 2009 when he began to play for Baroda and gained back his form. He carried his domestic form onto the IPL as well when he was picked up by the Mumbai Indians in 2010.

Since then, he has played an integral role in Mumbai’s success in the IPL and has provided a lot of stability in the middle order. He has played 109 matches in total and has scored 2325 runs at an average of 27.67.

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Jos Buttler

This 26-year-old wicket-keeper batsman has had a profound impact in England’s limited overs side and even holds the record for the three fastest ODI centuries to his name.

He made his IPL debut last year and played all 14 matches for the side and achieved a lot of success in the middle order with his attacking style of play.

He scored 255 runs in 14 games at an average of 23.18 and a strike rate of 138.58. He will prove to be vital in the lower middle order for Mumbai this season as well.