IPL: With six wins in a row, the Mumbai Indians look like a mean machine again

We're seeing again the vintage Mumbai Indians who were held in awe by their opponents in the IPL over the years. A hot streak of six wins on the trot has now taken the five-time champions to the top of the table — coming on the back of four losses in their first five games, this is stupendous; but then, the MI have been down this route before.

They equalled two of their own longest winning streaks from 2008 and 2017 when Hardik Pandya’s men brought the Rajasthan Royals down to earth on Thursday, 1 May, on the latters’ home turf — barely two days after young Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the toast of the IPL.

What’s more menacing is that all the pieces of the jigsaw are falling into place at the right time for them as, the Mumbai paltan are looking to end the jinx since their back-to-back triumphs of 2019–20.

That’ll be a feat, if they pull it off. This puts into context seasoned pro K.L. Rahul’s words in a video released on social media by his team, the Delhi Capitals, after their defeat against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the previous game. Rahul’s contention was that teams with a history of winning IPL titles have always shown the rare ability to peak on this ‘home stretch’ rather than the initial stages, as this is what counts in the end. This also explains why the IPL is often called a league of two phases — making it a test of experience, nerves and an ability to survive all conditions throughout the country.

This also makes the Mumbai Indians quite an unique team — notorious for their slow starts but a mean machine once everything falls into the right grooves.

The demolition of a below-par Royals was a case in point when Hitman Rohit Sharma scored his third fifty on the trot (after accumulating only 56 runs in his first five innings), South African import Ryan Rickleton showed why he is being rewarded so highly in international cricket, while Suryakumar Yadav and Pandya were ruthless enough to take advantage of an inexperienced Royals attack on a venue with small boundaries.

The brittle Royals batting line-up, which is sorely missing their first-choice captain Sanju Samson, was never quite in the frame in what would have been an extremely tough chase. The pressure was simply relentless on them, with a seam attack comprised of Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, a fit-again Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya and now Corbine Bosch. The surprise package was, of course, the journeyman leg spinner Karn Sharma — who returned with a haul of 3 for 23.

One remembers that in the post-auction analysis, experts were left wondering if MI would miss a leading spinner but then the think tank should be lauded for backing their strengths — pace bowling.

These are, hence, exciting times for the MI fans — who have had a tough time last season with the squad being rocked by all the talk of dissension after change in captaincy and a series of shoddy performances. All those seem like a bad dream now.

It may be worthwhile at this juncture to look back at the record winning streak in a single season of IPL – which stands in the name of Kolkata Knight Riders with nine matches on their way to a second title in 2014. There are still three league games left for MI – and a possible two more in play-offs – waiting for them.

Is the MI camp listening?