After winning their fifth title in 2020, Mumbai Indians were far from their iconic form in the past two IPL seasons. This season, they went past all the odds and clinched a spot in the playoffs as the fourth team in the table. Mumbai’s journey to the knockout stage was nothing short of a fairytale. They finished the previous season at the bottom of the table and had to deal with several injury issues since the beginning of this year’s campaign. The Rohit Sharma-led unit was struggling to build a proper bowling attack and it was hampering their performance during the opening phase of the tournament.
Mumbai Indians suffered two successive defeats in the first two games before registering their maiden victory over Delhi Capitals on April 11. They continued the momentum in the following two fixtures as well and got rid of Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Mumbai had just started climbing up on the table when Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans came in the way and handed them two consecutive defeats.
When things were going away from their hands, Mumbai’s batting department, led by Suryakumar Yadav, came out of its shell and dished out some back-to-back dominating performances. They produced a 200-plus score in two consecutive fixtures against Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings, emerging victorious on both occasions. The high-flying Mumbai unit once again got restricted by their arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings. The Mumbai batters, who looked to be in red-hot form in the earlier games, surrendered early in front of Chennai’s spin attack.
Mumbai had to make the most out of their last four matches and they succeeded in the job. Following the humiliating defeat against Chennai, Rohit Sharma and Co. thrashed Bangalore and Gujarat and it sparked their hopes for qualifying in the Playoffs. But the loss against Lucknow in the penultimate game took them to a position where they had to depend on the results of some other games to secure fourth place.
Apart from Mumbai Indians, Bangalore and Rajasthan were also in the race to grab the fourth place. Mumbai had to overcome Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last game, while Bangalore had to win against Gujarat. Mumbai lived up to the expectations as they outclassed Hyderabad at Wankhede, winning the away game by 8 wickets. But they could breathe a sigh of relief when a centurion knock from Shubman Gill ended Bangalore’s Playoff hopes. In the Eliminator, Mumbai will take on Lucknow Super Giants on May 24 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Comments
0 comment