Mumbai Indians - Journey from Rags to Riches

Mumbai Indians – Journey from Rags to Riches:

Very few would have put their money on Mumbai Indians after watching their performance in first six matches of the league. 5 losses out of 6, Mumbai was placed right at the bottom of the points table and looked completely out of sorts to even reach the playoffs. Who would have thought then, that Mumbai Indians would win the IPL title this year? – Hardly anyone. Probably it was the belief that the Mumbai Indians team management, their coaching staff and the players had that helped them stage this inspiring and a surprising rise. Winning the title from the position where they were rested after 6 matches deserved all the praises.

The IPL 2015 season kicked off with the very first match at Eden Gardens played between Mumbai and Kolkata. KKR went on to win their first match handing Mumbai their first loss of the tournament. Following this, MI had another 3 losses on trot against Punjab, Rajasthan and Chennai. Their batting line up wore some sorry figures and the bowling unit had below average performance. Defending a total of 183 against Chennai, Mumbai conceded 189 runs in just 16.4 overs which was their fourth successive loss. MIs win against RCB which was their first win in the tournament but was followed by another loss against Delhi at Kotla stadium and it was the 5^th loss. With 2 points, Mumbai Indians were nowhere near to average performance. To add to their miseries, they were almost thunder struck by the loss of two of their overseas stars – Aussie opener Aaron Finch and Kiwi all-rounder Corey Anderson. Both were declared to be out of the squad for the rest of the season due to injury.

To qualify for the playoffs, Mumbai Indians had an uphill task of winning all their remaining fixtures. Written off by one and all to qualify for the playoffs, Mumbai Indians took up the challenge to prove their critics wrong. They replaced the injured players with their last season batting star Lendl Simmons and the Kiwi pacer Mitchell McClenaghan respectively.

The change in the playing XI seemed to have changed their fortunes as well. Mumbai went on to win each of their next 5 games and earned 10 points straight. With 12 points in the bag, they were back in the contention for the playoffs to the surprise of all. MI suddenly grabbed the attention of one and all taking each match at a time and winning it. Their winning streak was halted by the century from South African batting sensation AB De Villiers. They lost to RCB but not the hopes of playoffs.The team showed determination once again by winning their remaining two ‘Do or Die’ matches which took their tally of wins to 8. Claiming 16 points helped them finish the league stage of the tournament with 2^nd place on the points table behind CSK putting Rajasthan and RCB behind; it was a turnaround litreally no one expected.

Entering the playoffs, they put their step into the finals right away defeating formidable Chennai Super Kings quite convincingly. Mumbai travelled to Eden Gardens in Kolkata to wait for the next finalist. Chennai managed to enter the final of the IPL yet again seemed to be a healthy unit on paper and looked like they were on course to win their third IPL trophy. However put into bat after losing the toss at the Eden Gardens on the final day of the tournament, Mumbai Indians managed to post a fabulous total of 202 on the Big Board. Their bowling unit looked on song and CSK could only manage 161 while chasing. Mumbai registered a thumping win against Chennai and won the title for the 2^nd time in IPL.

They say “Too many cooks spoil the broth”. But this proverb does not hold true for Mumbai Indians. Their support staff had plenty of cooks in – Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Shane Bond, John Wright, Jonty Rhodes, Robin Singh, Rahul Sanghvi, Kiran More and Paras Mhambrey. The think tank of the Mumbai Indians squad proved worthy and some credit of their success surely goes to them. The management has always believed in their team and helped them achieve the feat by showing confidence in the side. The confidence did wonders as the players showed an excellent turnaround.

All the players stepped up to the challenge and showed class. The team which once looked like a vulnerable unit suddenly was an invincible one in the latter half of the tournament. The onslaught of their wins and the success was a treat to watch. Pressured with no option but to go for win seems to do good for Mumbai Indians and the performances prove that. Simmons became second highest run scorer amassing 540 runs in the tournament. Simmons along with Parthiv Patel on the other end opened the innings and the duo provided perfect starts to the Mumbai almost every time.

Skipper Rohit Sharma continued his good form and runs kept flowing from his bat in the middle order and all-rounder Pollard showed some form. Their innings always got the desired boost in scoring rate with some lusty blows from the Baroda lad Hardik Pandya and the Hyderabadi Ambati Rayudu. The new guy New Zealander McClenaghan bagged 18 wickets for Mumbai whereas Lasith Malinga became the 2^nd highest wicket taker in tournament with 24 scalps. Harbhajan showed amazing form later in the tournament holding up the scoring rate, damming the flow of runs and picking important wickets at crucial junctures.

Rising from the rags to the riches and achieving the glory of the championship is surely a success story this will go down in the history books of the IPL.