Mumbai Indians are generally one of those IPL teams who get their tactics spot on and that is the reason why they have won 5 IPL titles as well, but during the players’ retention ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction, they have probably made a strategic mistake. While three of their choices, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Kieron Pollard, were all straightforward calls, the fact that they have retained Suryakumar Yadav might not be a tactically correct call for the time being.
Suryakumar Yadav is undoubtedly one of the best players of spin in the country, but by retaining him, Mumbai has simply secured the services of a top-order batsman who will anchor the innings. If Mumbai had opted for Ishan Kishan rather than Surya, they would have got a top-order batsman in that case as well, but the point of difference would have been the fact that Ishan is a left-hander and hence, he would have been a match up for left arm spinners and leg spinners.
All the successful T20 teams in history mostly have a left-hander batting in the top 3 simply because they can match up the kind of bowlers the right-hander might sometimes find hard to put away. Even Mumbai Indians in the previous IPL cycle had Quinton de Kock forming a lethal opening pair with the captain Rohit Sharma at the top of the order.
Ishan Kishan would have been filled a lot of roles for Mumbai Indians
With Ishan, Mumbai Indians would also have secured the services of a wicketkeeper and by doing so, they would have put themselves in a situation where they didn’t necessarily have to go and search a specialist wicketkeeper in the auction. Now, they don’t just have to find a wicketkeeper, they also have to find a quality opener.
Ishan Kishan would have performed the role of an opener and a wicketkeeper, all in one, for Mumbai, pretty much like what de Kock was doing. It’s not necessary now that the wicketkeeper Mumbai buys in the auction will also be a natural opener.
Mumbai Indians will also have to specifically look for a left-handed opener in the auction because with Rohit opening the batting and Surya batting at 3, they wouldn’t want their top 3 to be all right-handers, else the left-arm spinners and leg spinners will be in play straight away.
Despite Suryakumar Yadav’s quality as a batsman who is capable of being an anchor and at times also an aggressor at no. 3, not retaining Ishan was a strategic mistake on Mumbai’s part.
