Gavaskar drops colossal claim on India captain, picks MI's 'trump card' for IPL

Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has come up with a massive prediction for Rohit Sharma ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. Jasprit Bumrah-less Mumbai Indians will kickstart their campaign against Virat Kohli-starrer Royal Challengers Bangalore in match No. 5 of the IPL 2023 on April 2nd at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Can Mumbai Indians (MI) produce a comeback in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after a disastrous season last year? Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar strongly believes that Rohit Sharma and Co. are heading to the world's richest T20 league as strong title contenders. Despite missing pace ace Jasprit Bumrah in their world-class squad, Gavaskar feels Rohit and Co. have the potential to at least seal a place at the IPL 2023 playoffs.

Pace ace Bumrah will miss the entire edition of the IPL 2022. The star fast bowler is likely to be out for six months. Five-time champions Mumbai Indians strengthened their squad by signing the likes of Cameron Green (INR 17.5 crore) and Jhye Richardson (INR 1.5 crore) at the IPL 2023 auction. Before the 2022 edition of the IPL, Mumbai Indians had defeated Rajasthan Royals in an intense bidding war to sign England pacer Jofra Archer.

Making a bold prediction about the Mumbai Paltan prior to the start of the new season, batting legend Gavaskar claimed that MI skipper Rohit 'will do something really special' in IPL 2023. The legendary cricketer and former Indian skipper also hailed Archer as MI's trump card for the new season.

"Jofra Archer is one (trump card) for sure. Ishan Kishan after his ODI double hundred will be somebody to watch out as well. And I think Rohit Sharma will do something really special this season," Gavaskar told Star Sports. England pacer Archer had joined Mumbai Indians for a whopping sum of INR 8 crore at the auction. Archer is yet to make his debut for the five-time champions.

"I think their strength will be the presence of Jofra Archer. He can pick wickets upfront and also bowl a couple of overs in the end, block the runs and pick up wickets as well. I think it (weakness) could really be the spin combination. They've got a love new-ball attack but the spin combination just looks a little bit light," Gavaskar added.

Former champions Mumbai Indians had roped in Piyush Chawla (INR 50 lakh), Duan Jansen (INR 20 lakh), Vishnu Vinod (INR 20 lakh), Shams Mulani (INR 20 lakh), Nehal Wadhera (INR 20 lakh), and Raghav Goyal (INR 20 lakh) at the IPL 2023 auction. Earlier, Mumbai Indians had parted ways with the likes of Kieron Pollard, Daniel Sams, Fabian Allen, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, and Riley Meredith.

MI also signed Australia’s Jason Behrendorff from Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) prior to the start of the new season. Rohit's Mumbai Indians will kickstart their campaign against Virat Kohli-starrer Royal Challengers Bangalore in match No. 5 of the IPL 2023 on April 2nd at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.