In the last decade, Mumbai Indians have gone on to win the Indian Premier League five times. That is mind-boggling, truly. But in the same decade, there has emerged a pattern and it’s a trope now that Rohit Sharma and Co losing their first game of the tournament is just routine stuff.
And, nobody can afford to shrug off their starting troubles like Rohit Sharma has had to in the last ten years. It’s because they have gone off to turn the tables in the most dramatic fashion sometimes and script a fairy-tale title-victory, with the most remarkable comeback being the 2015 edition.
With yet another loss in an opening game, the 2023 edition is on-course for another potential comeback from the most successful team in the IPL’s history. But, with a new-look squad, can they really pull it off? It’d have to start with a good performance against arch rivals Chennai Super Kings on Saturday.
Here’s a look at all of Mumbai Indians’ starting troubles over the seasons:
2013: From defeat to title
Almost exactly 10 years to the day of their defeat against RCB this season, Mumbai Indians’ starting troubles began at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. MI lost a close match by two runs against a Chris Gayle-inspired RCB. It was the day Jasprit Bumrah made his debut and dismissed Virat Kohli but it wasn’t enough for MI.
Ricky Ponting started that season as MI’s captain but there was a captaincy change in the middle of the season as Rohit Sharma took over. The rest, as they say, is history. It was Rohit and MI’s first of five titles, as they defeated CSK in the final.
Pause, rewind, play: When Rohit Sharma captained Mumbai Indians in IPL for the first time
2014: Defending champs, into the playoffs
The pattern had started to become a little more obvious in this season. The defending champions were off to another tumultuous start in the season, having lost their first five games in a row. In the first match itself, they were blown away by a Robin Uthappa special and succumbed to a six-wicket defeat against KKR.
They went on to qualify for the playoffs in the most dramatic of fashions, thanks to an all-round show by Corey Anderson and a six by Aditya Tare against Rajasthan Royals that is part of MI folklore now. They were eventually defeated CSK in the eliminator.
2015: Title-winning comeback
It was the season that saw MI become only the third team after CSK and KKR to win the title more than once. This time too, they began their campaign having lost four games in a row after being defeated by KKR by seven wickets in their opener. It was a Suryakumar Yadav knock against his current employers that handed MI a defeat. They came into their own towards the second half of the tournament, even putting together a 5-match winning streak at one stage.
It was a comeback to remember. After languishing with the wooden spoon for the first two weeks, they went on to defeat CSK and become champions.
2016: Inconsistent performances
It was the season that they struggled to find their groove. In classic MI fashion, they lost their opening game to new franchise Rising Pune Supergiants by nine-wickets. In this match, none of their batters turned up, only Harbhajan Singh, batting at number eight, was able to show some fight during his 45-run stay to help MI post 121 runs.
This year, however, there was no fairy-tale comeback as MI finished fifth in the points table.
2017: Proper dominance
Mumbai Indians were back to winning ways this season. They had starting problems again, that did not change. But they went on to win their third title, making them the only team then to win it more than twice. The infamous slow-starter tag had already latched on by then, but so did the lucky odd-year juju.
They did lose the first match to RPSG by seven wickets but this time, they weren’t really on a match-losing streak per se. After losing the opener, they won six games in a row before they were defeated by RPS again. They finished top off the table. They faced RPS for the third time that season in the final and edged them by one run in a thrilling match to win the title altogether.
2018: Outside playoffs
For the sixth year in a row, Mumbai Indians lost their tournament opener. The opening game was one to remember as it marked CSK’s return after the two-year long suspension and the return of the MI-CSK rivalry. They ended up losing by one wicket in a thriller.
It was a good chance for MI to win back-to-back titles but it wasn’t to be for the defending champions who finished fifth on the points table with six wins under their belt.
2019: Four-time champions
They may have lost yet another opener, going down to Delhi Capitals by 37 runs but by now, MI’s starting troubles were usually shrugged off. They had turned the tables so many times already and 2019 was the year they did it again.
They finished atop of the points table yet again and prevailed against defending champions CSK by just one run to win their fourth title and become the most successful team in the tournament’s history.
2020: Back-to-back titles
This time around, MI went on to become the only team to win back-to-back titles, becoming five-time champions. The tournament was being staged in UAE amidst a pandemic. In a year of gloom, MI went on to script a happy fairytale of their own.
But, of course, they had lost the opening game to CSK by five wickets as Ambati Rayudu starred with 48-ball 71. However they had a fairly consistent season after that and finished atop the table with nine wins. They eventually defeated Delhi Capitals by five wickets to become champions again. It was possibly one of the best T20 squads put together in the world at the time.
2021: No three-peat
Mumbai’s hate-relationship with opening game continued. They lost their opening game against RCB by two wickets. Captain Rohit’s first reply after that loss was, “Winning the championship is important, I guess, not the first game.”
Had any other team’s captain said it, it would have come off as irresponsible or overconfident but with the kind of history MI have had, it really held true for them. However, a turnaround wasn’t on the cards that season and they finished fifth on the points table.
2022: Bottom of the table
After a mega auction, MI were going in with a new-look squad. Their enviable Indian core had been shaken as Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya moved to other teams and their threatening bowling line-up rendered ineffective after the mega-auction. Rohit and Co received a rude reality check when they lost the opening encounter against Delhi Capitals by 4 wickets and were barely able to bounce back in the following games.
For the first time, MI lost eight games in a row. The belief or an anticipation for a comeback was there but this time, they weren’t able to turn it around by any stretch of imagination. They finished the season with the wooden spoon, their worst year in the tournament’s history.
2023: What this time?
Things had gone downhill for MI in 2022 and they would have hoped for a better start in the new edition but the long-standing pattern continues. MI were handed an eight-wicket defeat in their opening game against RCB with Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli putting on a fabulous show for the returning Chinnaswamy faithful.
With some of the same problems as last year reflecting in their batting line-up this time, it was amplified with Jasprit Bumrah’s absence in the bowling line-up. While Tilak Varma looks promising, just like he did last year, Rohit Sharma and Co will have to find solutions to their batting concerns. It will need a collective show from MI to script yet another comeback to remember this season.
Following the loss, the captain said, “Just the first game of the season, there’s a lot to look forward to.”
Can MI give their fans another slow-start-title-finally story?