Why Mumbai Indians remind fans of the legendary Australian team

Dubai - This season Mumbai started as favourites and ended as worthy champions

From 1999 to 2007, such was the dominance of Australia in world cricket that other teams were mere passengers in the World Cups. Now the ruthless consistency of the Mumbai Indians in the last two editions of Indian Premier League (IPL), especially 2020, reminded fans of that legendary Australian team.

This season Mumbai started as favourites and ended as worthy champions.

In the past years, they stumbled and reached the playoffs, but this year they took off from game 2 and never looked back as they won nine of their league games comprehensively.

Every team in this year’s IPL had ups and downs but MI looked totally dominant and were touted as favourites from the earlier stage of the IPL. MI made the unpredictable format, predictable by playing the highest quality of cricket.

There are many reasons for their success. The MI were the only team who started their training from the end of July when the BCCI announced that the IPL would take place in the UAE.

The management had arranged a pre-tournament camp in Mumbai for most of the players so that they could shrug off the rustiness caused due to the pandemic. One more important thing the management did was that they allowed players’ families to accompany them as it was very important that the mental health of players was taken care of in a tournament that was played in a bio-bubble.

Also, the balance of the squad was so good that every player had their roles clearly defined and they executed the same on the field. MI was the only team to make just five changes in the squad across 18 games. And all the players knew that they had the backing of the captain and the coach so that they could play fearless cricket and dominate the opposition in every situation.

They adopted the style of England team of playing aggressive brand of cricket without the fear of losing the game which gave them the upper hand in pressure situation.

The most significant thing they had is the HITMAN, Rohit Sharma, leading the team, who had already won five titles and is undoubtedly the best white ball player/ captain in the world. And when you have a street smart captain like Rohit who absorbs all the pressure, his boys are bound to back him.

With the next IPL happening in just four months’ time, it’s going to be a big challenge for other teams to stop the mighty MI from clinching their sixth title as they have set a very high benchmark.

• IPL 2024