IPL 4 Final Four ( IPL 4 Qualifier ) Teams Profile: Mumbai Indians

The Mumbai Indians pulled off a shocking win over the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 4 final league match. It is also why despite the bumps lately, the Mumbai Indians have been the hot favourites of the IPL 4 season as they now enter the IPL 4 qualifier stage on a high.

mumbai indians celebrate

The Mumbai Indians will have to do it twice before they see themselves in the IPL 4 final. However, getting past the same team in the IPL 4 Eliminator to then compete in the IPL 4 qualifier 2 will not be easy for the Mumbai Indians who lost their momentum and from looking like topping the IPL 4 points table, had to struggle to make it to the third spot.

Sachin Tendulkar remains the fundamental core of this unit not only as a player but also, as a captain. Irrespective of whether this is his last IPL as is being speculated, Tendulkar would not accept anything less than a win. He also knows that the Mumbai Indians will need to recapture some of the aura from the early part of the IPL 4 season.

Another team that has retained its core four players and has an even stronger team in the IPL 4 season, the Mumbai Indians should not struggle for want of personnel, although the opening partner to Sachin Tendulkar is perhaps the one area that has caused them the most turmoil because initiative at the top is imperative.

In Ambati Rayudu, they have the explosive batsman, the fighter and finisher who is brimming high on confidence reposed by his skipper. Rohit Sharma could have an important role to play with the opening position shaky which is why the youngster needs to grab the opportunity with both hands.

Amongst the foreign contingent, in Kieron Pollard, they have the ultimate Twenty20 batsman and in the likes of James Franklin, who could find himself regular from this stage, they have another all rounder. How they negotiate the absence or presence of Andrew Symonds, as the team is planned out, will be crucial because Symonds loves the big stage.

While Harbhajan Singh will also be expected to elevate his game, particularly with the ball, at this stage of the tournament, the key, one feels, has to be Lasith Malinga. Although he has not been able to shake up the opposition with the same awe and skill as he did in the first half of the tournament, given that stage that the IPL 4 is currently in, Malinga will be expected to shake off that complacency and renew his deadly wicket taking ability because Mumbai Indians are going to need it consistently in the next few games if the team is to win their first IPL trophy.