IPL 2022: All’s not over for MI despite five consecutive losses, as their miraculous comebacks in 2014 and 2015 would indicate – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Mumbai Indians (MI) are off to a nightmare of a start in the 15th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), suffering five defeats in as many games, the latest being a 12-run loss at the hands of Punjab Kings on Wednesday.

Few would associate such a disastrous start with a team of MI’s calibre. Mumbai after all, are the most successful team in the history of the league, having lifted the trophy five times since 2013 with all the title victories coming under the leadership of the same individual — Rohit Sharma. Losing five games at the start of their campaign, thus is difficult for MI’s vast legion of fans, who are so used to the winning feeling, to digest.

And it’s not entirely surprising though — the league has gone through a reset of sorts after the mega auction that took place earlier this year with two new franchises joining the fray.

Mumbai Indians are off to a disastrous start in IPL 2022 with five defeats in as many matches. Sportzpics

The consistent performers in the IPL are known for having a solid core and Mumbai were no different in this regard with the likes of Kieron Pollard, the Pandya brothers, Jasprit Bumrah, Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav in addition to skipper Rohit. The mega auction saw the likes of Hardik and Krunal Pandya, de Kock, Trent Boult, Rahul Chahar and others join other franchises, shrinking Mumbai’s core group in the process.

The team owners did buy wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan back for Rs 15.25 crore and also invested in young talents such as South African sensation Dewald Brevis and N Tilak Varma while securing Jofra Archer’s services despite the English pacer being unavailable for this season.

The auction buys do indicate that the franchise has an eye on the future, but for the time being the team is in a state of transition, which is reflecting in their performances so far in the tournament. In the two games in which they have bowled first, they ended up conceding totals close to the 200-mark. And when batting first, their scores have been 177, 161 and 151, all of which were easily chased down in the end.

Also Read: Punjab Kings emerge winners, but Mumbai Indians give a glimpse of their future potential

Mumbai, along the struggling Chennai Super Kings, thus are among the franchises expected to make an early exit from the playoffs race and possibly compete for the wooden spoon. But a disastrous start to their IPL campaign isn’t something entirely new for the Mumbai Indians.

Here we take a look at MI’s performances in the 2014 and 2015 seasons, and explain why there still is hope for their fans of a miraculous turnaround this year:

IPL 2014

Mumbai had won their first ever title in Rohit’s maiden season as the captain just the previous year, and had entered the seventh season as the strong favourites. Mumbai started off with a 41-run loss to eventual champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) before suffering consecutive seven-wicket losses to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and CSK.

Things got worse with a six-wicket loss to Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) before Mumbai failed to chase down a 173-run target set by the Sunrisers Hyderabad to make it five defeats in a row. A bottom-place finish certainly seemed likely for the defending champions.

And yet Mumbai Indians ended up qualifying for the playoffs from the bottom of the heap. Mumbai turned things around in dramatic style over the next nine games — winning seven and losing two starting with a five-wicket win over Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab).

In the final league game that year, Mumbai found themselves in a direct shoot-out with Rajasthan Royals for the fourth playoff spot and needed to chase down the target of 190 in 14.3 overs to qualify. Thanks to Corey Anderson’s 44-ball 95 not out and Aditya Tare’s six off the final delivery of the match, Mumbai finished with 195 runs in 14.4 overs, which was enough to see them through.

Mumbai however, would end up losing to CSK in the eliminator to bow out of the tournament.

IPL 2015

Mumbai’s campaign in the 2015 season was just as ridiculous as the previous one, if not more. For Rohit and Co ended up winning their second IPL title after losing five out of their first six games. If that can’t inspire the current bunch to turn things around after five losses in a row, nothing can.

The traditional slow starters began a second consecutive season with a defeat to KKR (7 wickets) and was followed by defeats to PBKS (18 runs), RR (7 wickets) and CSK (6 wickets). Mumbai snapping the losing run with an 18-run win over RCB, before Delhi piled further misery on the Mumbaikars with a 37-run win.

Mumbai had pulled off the unthinkable the previous season, but few would’ve expected them to qualify for the playoffs after losing a majority of their games early on for a second season running. This time, MI reeled off five wins in a row to jump to 12 points in no time, and get back in contention.

The finish to the league stage was a lot closer this time around with as many as four teams locked on 16 points — MI finished fourth in the end thanks to a dominant nine-wicket victory over SRH in their final league match. They then beat CSK, the team that had knocked them out the previous year, twice — in the Eliminator and Final respectively — to lift their second title.

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