Mumbai Indians will be hard to beat in IPL 2021, says Sunil Gavaskar

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has backed Mumbai Indians to make a hat-trick of Indian Premier League (IPL) title wins in the upcoming 14th edition of the T20 tournament, scheduled to start from April 9. Gavaskar pointed out that the Mumbai Indians players have been in a rich run of form in the build-up to the IPL 2021 while adding the five-time champions would be a hard team to beat. 

Rohit Sharma will look to become the first skipper in IPL history to pull off a hat-trick of IPL trophy wins after lifting the coveted trophy in 2019 and 2020. 

The likes of Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Pandya brothers were in their element during the recently concluded T20I and ODI series against England. 

"I think Mumbai Indians will be hard to beat. We have seen their players coming to form. Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, the way they batted. Mumbai Indian players who took part in this T20I series and ODI series have shown they are in good form," Gavaskar told Star Sports.

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"The way Hardik Pandya has come to the party not just for Mumbai Indians, it was important for Indian cricket to see him bowl 9 overs. It means he is ready to play 9 overs. It (the World Test Championship final) is going to be in June, there is still time for that but the way he has come back is very good for Mumbai and Indian cricket," Gavaskar added. 

Meanwhile, all of the Mumbai Indians players who were involved in the India-England series have joined the franchise and have started gearing up for the lucrative T20 tournament.  

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The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 commences from April 9 with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) locking horns with Mumbai Indians (MI) in the season opener.