The question Mumbai Indians can no longer avoid is not about form. It is about design.
Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma — three of them T20 World Cup winners. On paper, a batting lineup as strong as any in the tournament. And yet on Saturday, Surya found Dewald Brevis at deep cover just as he was finding his touch. Tilak, whose hundred a few games ago felt like a turning point, slogged Noor Ahmad against the turn and top-edged to cover — a dismissal that summed up his campaign in one stroke. Pandya lasted 23 deliveries of thick edges, inside edges, swing and miss before he holed out at the deep. Three star names. Collective contribution: insufficient.
But the form of individuals is not the real problem. The real problem is structural.
In three IPL seasons, the defining shift in T20 batting has been the emergence of what might be called the new-age T20 baby — young, fearless, powerplay-oriented batsmen who don’t just score quickly but score at a pace that resets the game before the opposition can adjust. Abhishek Sharma. Priyansh Arya. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals identified this wave early, invested at auction, and are now reaping the reward at the top of the table. It is no coincidence that the four teams with the highest powerplay strike rates this season occupy the top four spots in the standings. The powerplay is no longer a passage of play. It is where IPL seasons are won and lost.
Mumbai haven’t found their version. Danish Malewar and Robin Minz are capable cricketers. They are not that.
For years, MI were the franchise that spotted gems and made them superstars. That reputation now belongs to others. Chennai Super Kings recognised the same problem last season and went about fixing it methodically — identifying the gap, targeting the right profiles at auction, and building around them quickly. Mumbai, at the mini-auction, showed few signs of understanding what needed fixing at all. Until that changes at a strategic level, not just a selection one, the problem will persist beyond this season.
What they have instead is Rohit Sharma, an opener trying to keep pace with a format that has moved on — and currently out injured. Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock and Will Jacks are reputable overseas names, but reputations don’t win powerplays in 2026. The teams that are winning them have batsmen who cause a different kind of problem — not experience, not technique, but the hunger and fearlessness of someone who has nothing to lose and every reason to swing.
Some will argue the bowling has been equally culpable. On flat Wankhede decks, MI have posted totals in excess of 200 and still lost. There is truth in that. But it sidesteps the larger point. The reason Punjab Kings and SRH dismantle totals that once seemed competitive is precisely because their top orders don’t just chase — they suffocate. They turn asking rates into irrelevances before the opposition bowling attack can settle. You cannot bowl a side out of a game when their powerplay has already taken it away from you.
Mumbai can put 200 on the board on flat decks. They did it on Saturday. It wasn’t enough. When Punjab and SRH come at you with their top orders, 200 is a conversation starter, not a total.
The names on Mumbai’s teamsheet are impressive. The T20 team they add up to, right now, is not.
