Mumbai Indians is a franchise cricket team based in the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. Founded in 2008, Mumbai Indians play in the Indian Premier League and are owned by India’s biggest conglomerate, Reliance Industries. They are one of the most successful teams in the IPL having won three IPL titles and two champions trophy, becoming the first team to do so. Over the years the Mumbai Indians roster has featured legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Shaun Pollock etc. and given opportunities to upcoming stars like Jaspreet Bumrah.
Now in 2019 Mumbai Indians, captained by Rohit Sharma have yet another shot at the glorifying IPL title after their victory over Chennai Super Kings on the 7th at Wankhede in Mumbai.
But the journey so far this season has not been easy for the team as many doubts were raised when Mumbai Indians roaster was revealed to the public. The uncertainty of player form and the lack of a figurative player in the team was raising questions to the team’s prospects, especially when the competing teams had such strong players and Mumbai set out to lose its first match this season.
But all said and done, for a season that started on a low note, Mumbai Indians ended at the top of the table.
Their first match in 2019 IPL was a big loss. Delhi Capitals set a good target of 214 runs for Mumbai but the team was bowled out for just 176 runs. The only positive perhaps from the match was to see Yuvraj Singh play for the Mumbai Indians Roster and score a half-century.
Although Mumbai was able to make a comeback in its next match by defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore, it was a very close fight and it suffered yet another defeat at the hands of Kings XI Punjab, where a brilliant 71-run knock by K.L. Rahul sealed Mumbai’s loss.
Mumbai next went on to face Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Kings XI Punjab for the next three games. The team won all three games with truly exceptional performances from the Mumbai Indian Roster, especially from Alzari Joseph during the match with SRH where he took a six-wicket haul and Keiron Pollard for his 83-run knock against KIXP winning an almost impossible game.
Mumbai’s three-game win was soon cut short with its loss to Rajasthan Royals in the next game. Although it went on to avenge its defeat from Delhi Capitals soon after that and once again beat the Royal Challengers, its way to the top of the table was thwarted yet again in the return fixture with Rajasthan where the team easily chased the 162-target set by Mumbai Indians.
The team next played Kolkata Knight Riders in possibly one of its toughest challenges yet with the opponent’s top three batsmen – Shubman Gill, Andre Russell and Chris Lynn scoring 76, 80 and 54 runs respectively and posting a humungous 233 on the board. Although Mumbai was not able to surmount this challenge the 91-run knock by Pandya represented the effort of Mumbai Indian Roster.
The team faced Sunrisers Hyderabad next and clinched victory in a nail-biting match that ended in a super over establishing itself into the qualifiers and avenged its defeat from Kolkata in its final fixture to stand at top of the table.
And now after the qualifiers where Mumbai Indians crushed Chennai Super Kings, the team once again stands pedestal to the opportunity to be champions. Only time will tell though whether the Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians Roaster will come on top of this challenge or not but something we can predict is that all IPL fans are up for an exciting finale to this breath-taking season.
Leave a Reply