Mumbai Indians’ recent loss to Delhi Capitals meant that the five-time champions have had their worst start in the history of the Indian Premier League, losing their first six games of this season, something that only Pune Warriors India and DC have done in the past.
The record IPL winners have been struggling, particularly in the bowling department, where the lack of world-class bowlers, apart from speedster Jasprit Bumrah, has cost them dearly, as they have lost winnable games due to their inexperienced bowling performances.
However, MI have had a history of poor starts and have turned things around on more than one occasion. Their previous record for the most number of games lost at the start of the season was five, when they did so in the 2014 season, famously also reaching the playoffs. Nevertheless, this situation is an unprecedented one for the most successful franchise in the history of the competition.
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Nothing has gone according to plan for Mumbai after their bizarre auction strategy, as they bought England pacer Jofra Archer, whose injury record is quite concerning. Captain Rohit Sharma’s form has dropped considerably this season, and Ishan Kishan has been struggling as well. Nevertheless, they have had positives in the form of Tilak Verma and Dewald Brevis, but none of them are immediate solutions to Mumbai’s growing problem.
Speaking in his post-match conference, Bumrah acknowledged the lack of quality from the side this season but insisted that all is not over for them.
“Life has not ended, the sun is going to rise again. This is only a game of cricket, someone has to win and someone has to lose. We have not lost everything in life, just lost a cricket game. That’s the spirt that is there in our team.
It is the way it is, we are not shying away. We were not good enough and the table (points table) is not lying. In the rest of the games, we will give our best shot and try to come out better,”
