The Mumbai Indians are known for their slow starts and surprising entries into the playoffs. In 2014, they lost their first five games. In 2015 they won only two of their first seven games. Despite all of that, they finished in the playoffs, and also made the top two in 2015, helping them win the Cup that season. They finished last in 2022, and the Mumbai Indians era looked long gone.

After winning consecutive Titles in 2019 and 2020, and with a dominating performance in 2020 in particular, the Mumbai Indians. Two seasons later it all fell apart. Their strategies in the mega-auction were questioned, and the fact that they were waiting on the likes of Archer, and now Bumrah, further added to concerns over their strategies in the Auction.

This season too, the Mumbai Indians started rather poorly. They managed three wins in their first seven games. After the first two losses, a repeat of last season looked likely. Suryakumar was out of form. He came into the tournament with three consecutive ducks in the ODI Series against Australia and looked far from the player he was a couple of months ago. Adding to their woes, Rohit Sharma too was out of form.

The bowling too looked non-existent with Jasprit Bumrah ruled out and Jofra Archer looking like a shadow of his former self. He too could not play much this season as his elbow kept flaring up, and mid-way through, Archer too was ruled out for the rest of the tournament. Jhye Richardson, another prospect was ruled out along with Bumrah up front, and a repeat of last season looked very likely. How did Mumbai turn things around though?

For starters, they had to find a way to fix their bowling attack. The thought of having Archer up front and Bumrah in the back end looked as mouth-watering as ever. The bowling attack suddenly had an unplayable look to it. The partnership though never materialized with both missing out due to injuries.

Mumbai Indians though have always found ways to make up for their holes as they found players to step up this time around as well. Jason Behrendorff took up the role as the overseas pacer while Mumbai found a really surprising and talented prospect in Akash Madhwal. The left arm Behrendorff has been used primarily in the powerplay with eight wickets in that phase. The death bowling gap was evident though with Mumbai trying a few options including the likes of Meredith and Arjun Tendulkar, before Akash Madhwal turned the tide.

His change of pace has tricked the best of batters and the talk at the moment is all on him, especially after his five-for in the eliminator. Another piece of their puzzle was the spin line-up. Last season they relied on some youngsters for the spin department, but that did not help. This season they roped in Piyush Chawla, who has come back really well and is bringing in some nice returns. With 20 wickets in 14 games, Piyush Chawla is in the middle of his best season and has commanded a lot of respect in the middle overs.

With the batting, their most out-of-form batter before the season is the one who led the fight back for Mumbai Indians. After looking nowhere near his best, Suryakumar Yadav turned his season around. With a handful of cameos, four fifties, and one of the best centuries in the tournament, Suryakumar Yadav is back to his best and is now their leading run-scorer by a fair margin. His surge has been the main factor behind their comeback, and with him in rhythm, the Mumbai Indians automatically look a lot scarier.

To add to his form, the Mumbai Indians have found young stars with the bat too. Tilak Varma, their best batter last season has been in fine form this season, before getting injured. He is back now and will be an important part of their line-up in these big games coming up. Nehal Wadhera, a player who has not played any T20 Cricket before this season is another who has stepped up and is doing a really good job in the middle-order.

To sum up the other’s efforts, the top order, Rohit Sharma, and Ishan Kishan too have been getting off to good starts. While they have not been getting big scores, Rohit and Kishan have been getting quick starts to propel the side, making the likes of Cameron Green and Tim David look a lot more dangerous in the back.