After struggling in the first two years of the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians have become one of the most consistent teams in the tournament. Since 2010, when they finished the tournament as runners-up, the Mumbai based outfit, has won the league twice and had managed to qualify for at least the play-offs till 2015. However, their season did not go according to the plan in 2016.
Despite having almost the same set of players who had helped them to win their second title in 2015, Mumbai struggled for consistency throughout the last season and missed out on a play-off spot. And looking at their new players, one can totally understand that they are not willing to disturb the team combination. After losing out in the race to sign Ben Stoke, MI did not go for any big name apart from former former Australia pacer Mitchell Johnson.
Here is the list of players added to the MI squad:
| Nicholas Pooran | Wicketkeeper-batsman | 30 Lakh | 30 Lakh |
| Mitchell Johnson | Bowler | 2 Crore | 2 Crore |
| K Gowtham | Bowler | 10 Lakh | 2 Crore |
| Karn Sharma | All-rounder | 30 Lakh | 3.2 Crore |
| Saurabh Tiwary | Batsman | 30 Lakh | 30 Lakh |
| A Gunarathna | All-rounder | 30 Lakh | 30 Lakh |
| K Khejroliya | Bowler | 10 Lakh | 10 Lakh |
Looking at the list, it is very clear that Mumbai Indians were keen to sign back up players instead of big names which would have disrupted their team composition. One of the prime reasons for their good performance in the last few years is the fact that they have managed to hold on their strong core of players and so the ploy to not sign any big names looks quite a wise move now.
Full squad of MI for IPL 2017:
Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Gopal, Lendl Simmons, Vinay Kumar, Parthiv Patel, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nitish Rana, Siddhesh Lad, J Suchith, Hardik Pandya, Jos Buttler, Tim Southee, Jithesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Punia, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Johnson, K Gowtham, Karn Sharma, Saurabh Tiwary, A Gunarathna, K Khejroliya
Here is MI’s probable lineup for the upcoming season:
| Parthiv Patel |
| Rohit Sharma |
| Ambati Rayudu |
| Krunal Pandya |
| Kieron Pollard |
| Jos Buttler |
| Hardik Pandya |
| Harbhajan Singh |
| Karn Sharma |
| Jasprit Bumrah |
| Lasith Malinga |