Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya of Mumbai Indians during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad. (PTI photo) Five-time champions and one of the fiercest teams in the league, Mumbai Indians (MI) have almost all their boxes ticked on paper heading into the IPL 2026 auction on December 16 in Abu Dhabi.Mumbai Indians, tied with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as the most successful IPL team, were knocked out in Qualifier 2 last season (2025) by Punjab Kings (PBKS), thanks to a batting masterclass from Shreyas Iyer.
Mumbai Indians IPL deals, holdouts, releases, squad updates: All eyes on captain Hardik Pandya
Mumbai Indians came late to the party last season, as they so often do, after losing four of their first five games partly due to not having Jasprit Bumrah at the start of the season. Once Bumrah returned, MI took off and won six matches on the trot to qualify for the playoffs.MI had a winning percentage of 56.2 in the 2025 season, much better than the 28.6 they had in the previous season (2024), when they finished last in the points table.Ahead of the auction, MI released Arjun Tendulkar (traded to LSG), Bevon Jacobs, Karn Sharma, Lizaad Williams, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Reece Topley, Krishnan Shrijith, Satyanarayana Raju and Vignesh Puthur.However, they have brought in Shardul Thakur (traded from LSG), Sherfane Rutherford (traded from GT) and Mayank Markande (traded from KKR) to add depth to an already formidable squad. Ahead of the IPL auction, here’s a look at MI’s strengths, areas to work on and what to expect from them in Abu Dhabi.
Strength to strength
If one writes the names of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, Ryan Rickelton, Will Jacks among others and says that they all play for the same team in T20, then perhaps there is no need to write anything more about the strengths of this team. The names and their numbers tell a story by themselves.In Jasprit Bumrah, MI have arguably the best T20 bowler in the world; he has 183 wickets at an economy of 7.24 in the IPL. In the 2025 season, Bumrah (18) and Boult (22) had 40 wickets and conceded runs at just 6.68 and 8.97 respectively. Continuing the trend of unearthing home-grown talent, MI introduced left-arm pacer Ashwani Kumar last season, he took 11 wickets in 7 matches last season and along with Deepak Chahar, Bumrah and Boult played a key role in MI’s success with the ball. Suryakumar Yadav had a dream season in 2025 with 717 runs at a strike rate of 167.92 and a ridiculous average of 65.18 and was the top scorer for MI.In Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma, MI have an opening pair that may not be the most devastating but can certainly destroy any bowling line-up. Rohit, 418 runs at a strike rate of 149.29, and Rickelton, 388 runs at a strike rate of 150.97, were MI’s second and third highest run-scorers last season.And in their captain Hardik Pandya, MI have the best T20 fast bowling all-rounder. In the 2025 season, he scored 224 runs at a pace of 163.50 and was the third highest wicket taker for MI with 14 wickets. But perhaps most important for MI was his return as a finisher. Pandya scored only 58 runs in 44 balls in the 2024 season at a strike rate of 131.8 between overs 15-20. On the other hand, in 2025, the all-rounder scored 182 runs in 109 balls at a strike rate of 167.0Naman Dhir was also a key player in ensuring MI did well in the 2025 season. Last season he scored 201 runs at 187.9 in overs between 15-20.The rotation of Santner and Karn Sharma gave MI control in the middle overs last season. In 13 matches, Santner took 10 wickets and gave away runs at just 7.92 runs per over. Karn played only 5 matches and was economical at 8.53 while taking 7 wickets.While MI released Puthur and Karn before the auction, they traded leg-spinner Mayank Markand from KKR. Markande previously played for MI in the 2018, ’19 and 2022 seasons. MI will also have the services of Afghanistan off-spinner Allah Ghazanfar. He was bought by MI last season but was replaced by Mujeeb ur Rahman after an injury ruled him out for the entire season.
Areas to work on
Not necessarily a weakness, but MI may be slightly worried about Tilak Varma’s strike rate. Among MI’s top 5 finishers last season, Tilak had the slowest score of 138.31. He hit 343 runs off 248 balls in 13 innings. To put things into perspective, he scored 164.1 and 149.6 in the 2023 and 2024 seasons, respectively.Will Jacks also had a lower 135.47 success rate last season. However, MI traded GT’s Sherfane Rutherford, who batted at 157.29 last season, as a possible back-up for him.
Does MI even have to go to auction?
While MI has almost all the boxes ticked, there are some holes, albeit very small, that need to be filled.With just Rs 2.75 crore in their purse and 5 remaining slots, one of which is overseas, MI may want to have the Indian middle-order batter as a backup option in the auction. Someone like Sarfaraz Khan may be on their list, but expect their scouting team to rediscover someone from the domestic circuit whose name many may not have heard before.What MI would also like is more Indian spin-bowling options. In Raghu Sharma and Mayank Markande, MI have two Indian leg spinners, the auction may go for one or two Indian finger spin options.However, whether MI get the required players or not, the auction is unlikely to decide their upcoming season. Hardik Pandya’s side look formidable enough to take on any team to end their title drought and claim IPL silverware for a record sixth time.
