After many speculations, finally, the biggest T20 league in the world is all set to kick-off from 19th September 2020. The tournament was about to begin in the last week of March, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed. Now, the BCCI has decided to organize this tournament in UAE, by following all the security guidelines to make the player safe from this ongoing disease.
In the last week of August, all the teams have reached the UAE. Here, all the team members and support staff have to go through a week of the quarantine period, after that they can begin their practice session. The defending champion, Mumbai Indians, have now completed their quarantine period, and they are all set to practice. Amidst all these things, the bad news for them is, their most successful bowler in IPL will not be a part of their team in this 13th season.
It might be a big blow for them since it was Malinga who bowled the last over in the final game against the Chennai Super Kings, last year. He made his team champion for the fourth time in IPL. There is no doubt that Mumbai Indians will surely miss their key death bowler in this season.
The reason behind the unavailability of Malinga is, his father is ill, and he may undergo some surgery in the upcoming days. If Malinga would join the Mumbai squad, and in any case, he had to visit Sri Lanka again. He would have to go through a necessary 14 days of the quarantine period. This is the reason why he decided to take his name back from the upcoming IPL season.
James Pattinson is Named as the Replacement of Malinga
Mumbai Indians did not make any delay to announce the replacement of Malinga. They have selected the Australian Pacer James Pattinson as the replacement. However, Mumbai Indians’ pace bowling attack is looking quite lethal this season. They have pace batteries like Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah, who are presently the World No. 1 and No. 2 bowlers in ODI. Along with them, they have Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan Coulter Nile, and Dhawal Kulkarni, who also have some great experiences to play in this tournament.
How About Mumbai Indians Squad?
If we look at all the teams of this IPL season, hopefully, Mumbai Indians seems to be the strongest contender. They have ticked all the marks in every department, they have back-up players for each and every position. They have Rohit Sharma, Chris Lynn, and Quinton De Kock as openers, who are considered as the deadliest openers of world cricket nowadays. Moreover, they have pinch hitters like Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, and Sherfane Rutherford on their bench. All and all, they have a strong chance to win the trophy this year also, and a calm leader like Ro-Hitman Sharma can definitely make this thing possible this year.