The 3-time IPL trophy winners Mumbai Indians retained captain Rohit Sharma, mercurial Jasprit Bumrah and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya during the pre-auction player retention. This was done to make sure their core remained the same.

However, their decision to not retain Harbhajan Singh and Lasith Malinga, two figures that have always featured since Mumbai Indians started their journey in IPL. During the auction, they had used their RTM cards to buy back Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard and clarified their stand of preparing a team for future seasons. We will also get to see the might of foreign recruits like Ben Cutting, who won SRH the final in 2016 and Evin Lewis, the new West Indian smasher at the top; for Mumbai in IPL 2018.

MI has put their faith in all-rounders with the likes of Pollard and the Pandya brothers being at the forefront. They have also procured the services of left-arm seamers Mustafizur Rahman, Jason Behrendroff and Pradeep Sangwan, something that will give them an edge over the opposition.

They, however, brought a young fast bowler in Pat Cummins. Mumbai Indians didn’t forget their batting in the auction and along with Rohit Sharma and the likes of JP Duminy, Surya Kumar Yadav, and Saurabh Tiwary in middle order can be a nightmare for the opposition. They bought Ishan Kishan for wicket-keeping duties and possibly opening at the top.

The only headache for Mumbai Indians is finding that perfect opening combination, as Rohit Sharma has shown that he prefers batting at no.3 despite having a stellar record as an opener for India and even Mumbai Indians.

Possible playing XI:
Evin Lewis, Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma (C), Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Mustafizur Rahman, Pat Cummins, Rahul Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah