IPL 2017: Mumbai Indians Factfile
If there is any team which has looked the most dominant and ominous in this season of IPL, it has to be the team from the western coast of India, Mumbai Indians. Having had a history of starting poorly, thy have turned the tables this season. They began their campaign all guns blazing and are sitting pretty at the top of the table with 16 points from 10 games.
What the MI side did manage from the beginning of the IPL was to maintain the balance of the side. This side has all its bases covered. They have plenty of match winners, who on their day, can single-handedly steer the ship. The arrival of Nitish Rana has sorted out the middle order woes and Rohit Sharma has also come back to form after a slow start.
The openers, Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler, have been doing a pretty decent job in every game, and are providing them rapid starts. Kieron Pollard has won them games from wanting situations and the Pandya brothers, with their all round skills, have given this side a completely new dimension.
What this IPL has shown thus far is that batsmen win you matches but bowlers win you tournaments. All the top sides on the points table have their bowling department filled with potential matchwinners. MI have a good bunch of five to six bowlers, who are well equipped to bowl their quota of 4 overs, excluding Kieron Pollard.
Harbhajan Singh, with his guile and deception, has given nightmares to all the batsmen and has been the most economical bowler for them this season. Bumrah, McClenaghan, Malinga/Johnson, Hardik, Harbhajan and Krunal form a formidable bowling attack which has done wonders for the team.
Bumrah’s super over against GL is an example of how well they have bowled under pressure. Karn Sharma, too, has been a good replacement which just shows how good their bench strength is.
Krunal, with his skiddy left-arm orthodox, has contained and picked up wickets whenever required. McClenaghan has given them crucial breakthroughs at important junctures of games and Malinga too has done his bit.
The MI side will be aiming to finish well and finish as one of the top two teams on the points table so that they get two cracks at qualifying for the final, and then possibly win the IPL for the third time.
Here are some interesting stats from their impressive 10-year-long IPL stint.
11 – The number of times Rohit Sharma has remained not out while chasing, and MI have won all of them.
150 – The number of matches played by MI in the IPL. RCB is the only other side to have achieved this feat.
4 - The number of time Parthiv Patel has got out to the 1st ball of an innings – the most by any batsman in the IPL.
33 – The number of batsmen sent to the pavilion on 0 by Lasith Malinga – the most by any bowler in the IPL.
36 – The number of matches taken to accumulate 50 wickets by Mitchell McClenaghan, only Narine (32) and Malinga (33) have got there faster.
7 - The number of times MI batsmen have been retired hurt in the IPL – the most by any side in the IPL.
4 - The number of players to have reached the 4000 run mark in the IPL – Rohit Sharma is the slowest to get there after Kohli (128), Raina (140) and Gambhir (140).
(All Stats: iplt20.com)