IPL 2019: Mumbai Indians - the right mix of youth and experience

All-rounders (5 - 6 - 7): Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Ben Cutting

Hardik Pandya

Since Hardik is a key player in India's ODI squad, hence, in order to reduce his chances of injury and fatigue, he has been considered in the team solely as a batsman.

While Hardik was the top wicket-taker (18 wickets) for Mumbai in IPL 2018, he has been a match-winner in the middle-order for Mumbai in the past two seasons. He was phenomenal in 2017 with 250 runs at a strike rate of 156.25 and an average of 35.74 as he played the role of a finisher in the team.

As his batting position was shuffled quite a bit in 2018, in order to accommodate Rohit Sharma in the middle order and give opportunities to Kieron Pollard, he couldn't quite get the stability that he needed.

Krunal has been a terrific find for Mumbai Indians.

Krunal is a perfect fit for the number six position as he has the capability to score runs despite the bowling or his team's position in the match. His ability to score runs all around the wicket helps take off the pressure in run chases and make him the ideal choice to come before the likes of Pollard and Cutting.

A level-headed cricketer, Krunal also has consistently shown his ability to contribute with the ball with his tight bowling which helps curb the oppositions' scoring at any point in the game.

With his recent international debut and a good performance in those matches, including a Man-of-the-Match award in the latest T20I against Australia, Krunal should be on cloud nine, and his confidence would only benefit Mumbai Indians who have shown immense faith in his talent.

Cutting got limited opportunities in 2018 and would be raring to go in 2019.

This position was a toss between Kieron Pollard and Ben Cutting, and Cutting won the spot on the strength of his bowling.

Since Hardik wouldn't be bowling as much as would like to due to World Cup concerns, the team needed a fast-bowling option, and who better than Ben Cutting, who his handy with the bat, a terrific fielder, and was the sixth-highest wicket-taker with 13 wickets in 11 matches in this year's Caribbean Premier League (CPL). He would play a similar role in the side to what Dwayne Bravo plays for the CSK.

He last featured in the Australian colors almost five years back in 2014 and since then has been quite low on the consideration list for the national side as other youngsters have made their place in the squad.

While his international experience is less (4 T20Is and 7 ODIs), he has quite a significant experience of playing T20 tournaments all around the world, and his experience would prove critical for Mumbai.