With the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) just over a couple of months away, the Mumbai Indians will be looking to make amends to their dreadful 2024 campaign where the team finished last in the league stage with just four wins all season.
In this article, we take a look at five domestic players who can make a difference for the Mumbai Indians this season.
Naman Dhir
The 25-year-old Punjab all-rounder was part of the Mumbai Indians squad that finished bottom of the table last season. Used primarily as an Impact Sub early on, a couple of cameos ensured Naman Dhir got into the side on merit with the team all but knocked out of the running for the playoffs. A blistering 28-ball unbeaten 62 against the Lucknow Super Giants in their last league fixture gave a glimpse of what the all-rounder can produce on a cricket field when squaring up against some of the best in the game.
This season, in the lead up to the marquee tournament, the 25-year-old has had a sub-par Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) playing for his state side Punjab. In 6 innings, the middle-order batter has scored 132 runs with a strike rate of 142. As an off-spinner, Dhir managed to pick up five wickets in the tournament with a respectable economy of 6.67. With MI’s lack in depth in terms of lower-order power hitters and spin bowling options, the 25-year-old can certainly emerge as a viable option for the five-time IPL champions.
Deepak Chahar
After six seasons with the Chennai Super Kings, Deepak Chahar will now be donning the blue of the Mumbai Indians. With MI looking to add more potency to their new ball bowling and reduce some burden on their star bowler Jasprit Bumrah, the addition of Chahar alongside a seasoned campaigner in Trent Boult will definitely make them a fearsome attack especially with the new ball.
Although injuries in recent times have limited his playing time both domestically and internationally, however, since the 2018 mega auction, Deepak Chahar has ranked right up alongside the likes of Boult and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as the highest wicket takers in the IPL especially in the PowerPlay.
Raj Angad Bawa
Raj Angad Bawa is a young 22-year-old all-rounder playing for Chandigarh in the domestic circuit. Bawa came into the limelight on the back of his impressive all-round performances for India’s U-19 team during their 2022 triumph. As a result, the Punjab Kings roped in the youngster during the 2022 Mini Auction for INR 2 crore.
In the build up to IPL 2025, the Chandigarh based all-rounder had an excellent SMAT. In six innings, the 22-year-old scored 171 runs at a strike-rate of 137, with four 30+ scores. He had an even better time with the bowl, as he picked up 12 wickets in just seven innings, however, he was a touch expensive going at over 9 runs per over. Given MI’s lack of fast bowling allrounders, Bawa will provide ample cover for skipper Hardik Pandya during this coming season.
Vignesh Puthur
The Mumbai Indians have a knack of unearthing gems with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, the Pandya brothers and many others going on to make a big name for themselves. Following the 2025 Mega Auction, the MI talent scouts might have unearthed another gem in the form of Kerala’s Vignesh Puthur.
Despite not playing any senior-level cricket for Kerala, Puthur grabbed the attention of talent scouts of Mumbai Indians ahead of the mega auction held in November 2024. The left-arm chinaman with his unique action garnered so much attention that he was invited in the MI trials on three separate occasions before the franchise roped him in for his INR 30 lakh base price on auction day. Under the right guidance, and with Mumbai’s lack of domestic spin bowling depth, the young 23-year-old bowler can make a bid for a place in the MI playing XI in slow and turning wickets.
Krishnan Shrijith
Despite MI’s strong Indian core, there’s a glaring hole in their squad. The lack of quality depth especially in the Indian ranks. Moreover, MI only have six out-and-out batters in their squad, and if for any reason, one of their top-order batsmen goes down injured, there’s very few players who they can count on to come in and make a difference. As things stand, someone like Krishnan Shrijith will be an able back-up given his recent form and ability to play both explosively and maturely as per the demands of the situation.
During last season’s Karnataka Premier League (KPL), the 28-year-old south paw scored 349 runs in ten innings striking at 139.6 while in the recently concluded SMAT, playing for Karnataka, Shrijith scored 213 runs with a strike rate of 176. Moreover, with Tilak Verma and Ryan Rickelton being the only left-handed batters in the playing XI, they’ll do well by having him as an Impact Sub to exploit the field dimensions better.
Leave a Reply