Which IPL team is the most like Manchester City?
The Indian Premier League (IPL), a close recreation of its English counterpart in football - the Premier League - may be young in years, but has already managed to etch a name for itself in the annals of sporting history.
Millions of cricket fans across the world look forward to the sporting extravaganza that the IPL brings every Indian summer along with a host of exciting new players guiding their teams towards victories of the highest kind.
The Manchester City, who are the reigning power in the Premier League at the moment, are a club with a deep-set philosophy in which they follow a total football approach to passing the ball around with confidence.
They try to approach their opponents' goalposts with an intensity that their head coach Pep Guardiola drills into them in training, bringing all their attacking players into play along with those in defensive duties rallying in for support.
If there were one team in the IPL closest to the Manchester City with regards to their approach and philosophy, it would be the Mumbai Indians (MI). Quite like City, MI did not see success early on in their career and won their first title only in 2013, five years after the IPL began.
Although MI differ from City in the fact that they have not had an all-pervading head coach who has defined their style of playing, this responsibility has often been taken up by former skipper Rohit Sharma. He has led them to all five IPL titles that they have won so far.
Mumbai Indians and Manchester City exhibit similar philosophies
MI are known to scout players across the globe and bid for them in the IPL auctions, making sure that they end up with those who are closest to their philosophy and are willing to go out of their comfort zone while seeking glory.
City, too, are notorious for spending a lot of money on the best players across the world, although these are scouted extensively by their deeply knowledgeable backroom staff led by Txiki Begiristain, the club's director of football.
Head coach Pep Guardiola is known to be extremely demanding of both his players and staff, and they toe the line with regards to the expectations that he has either on the field of play or outside.
Rohit is a similar character in the MI dressing room, and although he was asked to let go of the captaincy in favor of Hardik Pandya in the 2024 season, he commands immense respect in it.
Although both MI and City like to go for big-name and expensive players, they often do not shy away from promoting young, talented players and giving them an opportunity to showcase their skills in front of the world.
While City have their best examples in the form of Phil Foden and Rico Lewis, Mumbai can count upon the likes of Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah and the Pandya brothers - Krunal and Hardik - as their finest homegrown products.
Both teams are known for their highly attractive brand of playing
The Manchester City and MI are both known to exhibit a highly attractive brand of football and cricket respectively to their supporters, and often draw crowds numbering in the high thousands.
Both teams are known to push with high intensity at all times and not let go of the pressure that they put their opponents under. This allows them to dominate and express themselves to the best of their potential.
City and MI have both seen a lot of success come their way in the recent past, and while the former's has been well-documented (and often denigrated by sections of the media that favor the old powers-that-be), the latter too jumped onto the bandwagon quite late.
MI won their first IPL title in 2013, but it took them just seven years to add four more to their cabinet, not to mention the Champions League Twenty20 trophy that they lifted twice - in 2011 and 2013 - before the tournament was shut down.
City, too, won the Premier League for the first time in 2011-12, although they had won the English first-division title on two occasions in the past in 1936-37 and 1967-68.
Since they won their first PL title, City have been prolific and added seven more trophies to their kitty. They are also the defending champions of England at the moment, to go with the UEFA Champions League they won in 2022-23.
Both MI and City have a wide fanbase that caters to the teams' need for viewership and sponsorship, and with a background so sound, one expects the similarities between the two to only grow.
Both are owned by big conglomerates - Abu Dhabi United has a presiding stake in City while Reliance Industries owns MI - which is a striking similarity. Also, both these teams wear blue!