'Key area where we needed more finesse': Mumbai Indians admits to big weakness in IPL 2023

Five-time Indian Premier League champs, the Mumbai Indians, led by Rohit Sharma need no introduction to what they have achieved in the tournament’s history. The Mumbai-based franchise had a decent campaign in IPL 2023 and went on till the playoffs stage of the cash-rich league. However, the Gujarat Titans defeated them in the Qualifier 2 by 62 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. 

The team had a disappointing start to the tournament as they lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings in the first two matches by huge margins. The team then gained momentum and carried it forward throughout the tournament, but in the middle, there was a phase where they went off the winning track. 

Recently, the Mumbai Indians have done a detailed SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of their performance in the Indian Premier League 2023. The Rohit Sharma-led side was a batting-heavy team, but they lacked experience in the bowling department. 

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The team had a lot of star batters like Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Ishan Kishan just ahead of the tournament, in which they added a few more names like Tilak Varma, Cameron Green, and Tim David. 

What were the Mumbai Indians' strengths and weaknesses in the IPL 2023? 

Where Tilak Varma played exceptionally well in the middle order, Cameron Green played at number three and stayed till the end of the team innings. Tim David also came out in pressure situations and finished the game for his team whenever they needed him. 

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However, the team missed the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Jhye Richardson just ahead of the tournament. Jofra Archer, who had to lead the pace attack in their absence, also did not play as per his name and got ruled out in the middle of the tournament. Chris Jordan, who came in as his replacement, also couldn't perform as per his name and was very expensive in all the matches in he played in IPL 2023. 

The bowling department also had good takeaways like Akash Madhwal and Piyush Chawla. Madhwal, on the one end, broke the backbone of the Lucknow Super Giants while batting in the Eliminator of the tournament and picked up five wickets. Chawla was one of the leading wicket-takers in the game and bowled well throughout the cash-rich league.