How to crack Mumbai Indians
The reigning champions look as formidable as ever, but they aren’t invincible
As we are halfway through the 13th Edition of IPL, winning 6 out of 9 games has proved that Mumbai Indians are playing a different brand of cricket to all the other franchises. Even 2 of the 3 defeats were in super overs against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab.
Even though T20 is an unpredictable format, attention to detail is what separates the best from the rest, and MI is proving this again in IPL 2020. Apart from bowling and fielding well, they are also batting equally fine. They are playing an aggressive and fearless brand of cricket in all departments.
Most of the teams we have seen chasing were going quite slow, but Mumbai is relatively aggressive without fear of losing. All the players have been playing their roles well, whether it is their wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, captain Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, or Kieron Pollard and the Pandya brothers. Even bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and Rahul Chahar are performing remarkably well.
They are once again a hot pick for winning the IPL, so the question is how the other teams can beat MI. There is a saying that if you cannot beat the opposition then join them. However, in IPL since the teams cannot join one another, the other teams have to play the same brand of cricket adopted by Mumbai Indians in order to beat them. The best way to beat MI is to attack the bowlers like Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar who have been going for less than 6 runs in an over and target batsman like Rohit Sharma and Pollard by bringing leg spinners which is their weakness.
It is a common notion that if the best players of the team are attacked they would automatically go on the back foot. However, the teams are playing a very defensive brand of cricket against Mumbai.
What makes the MI team so strong and consistent in IPL? Zaheer Khan, Director of Cricket Operations, Mumbai Indians credits the structure which MI has with regard to scouting young talent and encouraging them and promoting them, giving them the right platform, as the DNA of the franchise’s success. He added that the method of choosing players adopted by the franchise to ensure that they get the best out of the foreign players and domestic talent has been fruitful for them.
Now it’s up to the rest of the teams to strategize their games to beat the maximum titles winner MI this IPL season.