IPL 2018: Biggest strength of each franchise

#5 Mumbai Indians - Depth of the batting lineup

Can the Mumbai Indians extend their dominance and win a fourth title in six years?

The Mumbai Indians have won the coveted trophy thrice in the last five years. One major factor in their success over these years has been the depth of their batting lineup owing to the presence of exceptional all-rounders. Harbhajan Singh, who would sometimes come as late as seven down, could pack a punch with the bat too. All-rounders such as Kieron Pollard, the Pandya brothers and Karn Sharma to name a few have ensured in the past that the Mumbai Indians would still be in the game despite losing multiple wickets.

The Mumbai Indians head in to IPL 2018 with an incredibly deep batting lineup. Evin Lewis and Ishan Kishan are likely to open with the bat. Rohit Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav make up a strong middle order. Should the Mumbai Indians opt to play either one of all-rounders JP Duminy or Ben Cutting instead of Mustafizur Rahman, one of these many batsmen could end up coming in to bat at as late as number eight!

With such a deep batting lineup, it's hard to imagine the Mumbai Indians falter in a run chase.