Mumbai Indians IPL 2026 Squad Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Strongest XI

They bought Quinton de Kock in the auction for INR 1 crore.

Mumbai Indians had a quiet IPL 2026 auction after going into the event with the lowest purse among all franchises. Despite that, the Mumbai Indians IPL 2026 squad is one of the most formidable for the upcoming edition.

Former five-time champions had only INR 2.75 crore in their wallet but they had retained most of their squad and didn’t have many requirements. Following the mini auction, we take a look at the full squad, strongest XI, strengths, and weaknesses of Mumbai Indians for IPL 2026.

Mumbai Indians IPL 2026 Squad After Auction

Ahead of the retention deadline, the franchise retained a total of 20 players, including their core of superstars. They were also active in the trade window, bringing in Sherfane Rutherford, Shardul Thakur, and Mayank Markande from three different franchises.

MI were handcuffed at the IPL 2026 auction after these moves as they couldn’t compete with other teams. They managed to buy Quinton de Kock for a base price of INR 1 crore. Mumbai also made some uncapped signings in Danish Malewar, Mohammed Izhar, Atharva Ankolekar, and Mayank Rawat.

Here’s the full MI squad for IPL 2026:

Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Deepak Chahar, Ryan Rickelton, Will Jacks, Trent Boult, Mitch Santner, Corbin Bosch, AM Ghazanfar, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma, Robin Minz, Raj Bawa, Sherfane Rutherford, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Markande, Quinton de Kock, Mohammed Izhar, Atharva Ankolekar, Mayank Rawat, and Danish Malewar.

MJ shares his thoughts on Quinny’s addition back to the #OneFamily 🙌 pic.twitter.com/85GZnQx5v2
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) December 16, 2025

Mumbai Indians Strongest XI for IPL 2026

Quinton de Kock (wk) ✈️
Rohit Sharma
Tilak Varma
Suryakumar Yadav
Sherfane Rutherford ✈️
Hardik Pandya (c)
Naman Dhir
Mitch Santner ✈️
Deepak Chahar
Jasprit Bumrah
Trent Boult ✈️

Strengths of Mumbai Indians Squad IPL 2026

Looking at the squad, Mumbai Indians seem to have built a squad that can compete for the title. They haven’t won a trophy in five years and would be desperate to end the drought. Check out the strengths of the MI squad IPL 2026:

In Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma, Mumbai Indians have a solid opening pair with left-right combination.
They boast of two high quality batters Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma at number 3-4.
On paper, they have outstanding finishers such as Hardik Pandya, Naman Dhir, and Sherfane Rutherford.
With Mitch Santner and Deepak Chahar/Shardul Thakur, they have good batting depth.
In the bowling department, they have a bonafide pace bowling pair in Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult.
New ball bowling is also sorted with Chahar/Thakur to be the third seamer.
The spin department has two quality overseas options in Santner and AM Ghazanfar.

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Weaknesses of MI Squad IPL 2026

Mumbai Indians perhaps made a big error by not releasing Deepak Chahar and Will Jacks to free up the purse. As a result, they could not address their issues properly.

Failure to get a quality domestic wicket-keeper has meant they will not have much flexibility with regards to playing XII combination.
Hardik Pandya’s limitations as a finisher could be a big headache for MI yet again. In the last two IPL seasons, he has averaged less than 21 with the bat, and has hardly played any match-winning knock. His issue against hard lengths is too glaring.
Mumbai lacks quality in the domestic spin department, which hampers their ability to try a different approach. They tried to address it by acquiring Markande but ideally, they should have gone for someone like Shivam Shukla.
They lack depth in the pace department with only two overseas pacers in the squad.
The new ball value of Chahar and Thakur is overestimated by the franchise, and could be a big concern.
Going with the same strategy of Will Jacks in the middle order would be sub-optimum. However, Rutherford also has a weakness, which gives MI a headache.

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