Mumbai Indians Should Do What PSG Did: Remove the Superstars?
Before you close this article in anger, hear me out.
No, I am not saying Mumbai Indians should release every superstar in their squad. I am not saying Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, or Tilak Varma are the problem.
But maybe the biggest lesson from PSG’s recent success is that sometimes a team’s greatest strength can quietly become its biggest challenge.
For years, Mumbai Indians were not just a successful IPL franchise. They were a talent factory.
They identified players before anyone else did.
Hardik Pandya was not a global star when Mumbai picked him.
Jasprit Bumrah was not India’s greatest fast bowler when Mumbai gave him opportunities.
Even Tilak Varma arrived as a young prospect before becoming an international cricketer.
The Mumbai Indians formula was simple:
Find talent. Trust talent. Develop talent. Create stars.
And it worked better than anyone could have imagined.
The franchise built one of the greatest dynasties in IPL history.
But success creates a unique problem.
What happens when all the players you developed become superstars?
Today, Mumbai Indians have a dressing room full of leaders, match-winners, international captains, vice-captains, and franchise icons.
These are not young players trying to prove themselves.
These are players who have already conquered the biggest stages in cricket.
That changes the dynamics of a team.
The challenge is no longer talent development.
The challenge becomes managing expectations, leadership groups, individual ambitions, and team identity.
This is where PSG’s story becomes interesting.
For years, PSG had everything a football club could dream of.
Lionel Messi.
Neymar.
Kylian Mbappé.
Three of the biggest names in world football.
Yet despite all that talent, the club repeatedly fell short of its biggest objective.
Then something changed.
The superstars left.
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Many fans believed PSG would become weaker.
Instead, they became stronger.
Not because Messi was the problem.
Not because Neymar was the problem.
Not because Mbappé was the problem.
PSG became stronger because they stopped building around individual stars and started building around a collective identity.
The focus shifted from personalities to culture.
From individual brilliance to team structure.
From star power to system power.
Could Mumbai Indians be facing a similar challenge?
Maybe the issue is not Rohit Sharma.
Maybe the issue is not Hardik Pandya.
Maybe the issue is not any individual player at all.
Maybe Mumbai Indians have simply reached the end of a successful cycle.
The very players they developed have become such massive stars that the environment that once made Mumbai special is no longer the same.
The franchise that once discovered talent is now managing celebrity.
The franchise that once nurtured youngsters is now balancing multiple established leaders.
And perhaps that is why the solution is not finding a scapegoat.
The solution may be rediscovering their original identity.
Keep a few senior pillars.
Keep the culture carriers.
But return to what made Mumbai Indians great in the first place.
Scout aggressively.
Back young players.
Create the next Bumrah.
Create the next Hardik.
Create the next Tilak.
Build a team that is hungry before it becomes famous.
Because dynasties are rarely sustained by holding on to the past.
They survive by creating the future.
PSG reinvented itself.
Should Mumbai Indians do the same?
Or do you believe the current squad still has what it takes to dominate the IPL again?
What do you think is the real formula for success for Mumbai Indians?
