IPL 2020 review: The inevitability of Mumbai Indians' title victory

Mumbai Indians staked their claim for being the best T20 franchise across the globe after successfully defending the title and lifting their fifth IPL trophy.

Mumbai Indians were part of the opening match of the 13th edition of the IPL and started on a decent note, but let the match slip away. After a victory in the second match of the season, the team lost in a Super Over against Royal Challengers Bangalore. From there on, it was easy going for Mumbai Indians as they found their groove and never let anything affect their consistency.

Inevitable champions

It was not long before they separated themselves from the rest of the pack and got seated at the top. It remained that way for the rest of the round robin stage as Mumbai Indians finished comfortably at the top of the table with 18 points after nine wins and five losses from 14 games.

In Qualifier 1, their victory over Delhi Capitals by 57 runs was as clinical as it gets. They did it despite regular captain Rohit Sharma missing four matches due to a hamstring strain.

On the big night as well, Mumbai Indians hardly broke a sweat. The pace was set by Trent Boult dismissing Marcus Stoinis for a golden duck on the first ball of the Final. Despite a decent partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, the target for Mumbai was par, at best.

Some meety blows from openers Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock in the first couple of overs set the pace of the chase, as Mumbai strolled to a win by five wickets with more than an over to spare, to lift their fifth IPL title and second on the bounce.

11 match winners

In most IPL teams, there are a couple of weak links, but with Mumbai, almost all their players have the ability to win a match for the side on their day, be it openers Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma or Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan in the middle order. Finishers Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya did win a few matches for them as well.

The same was true for the bowlers. Be it Trent Boult and James Pattinson with the new ball or Jasprit Bumrah in any phase of the game, Mumbai were always on point.

Brilliant additions

Neither Trent Boult nor James Pattinson were part of the Mumbai Indians set up in the last season. Boult joined in and became a part of the franchise seamlessly, delivering with 25 wickets at 18.28 - third-highest in the tournament.

He was sensational for Mumbai, especially in the powerplay, and formed a lethal combination with James Pattinson, who also pocketed 11 wickets from 10 games.

Leadership and continuity

The leadership of Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard and the backroom staff has to be credited for Mumbai's consistent run. The team played only 15 players throughout the season, which is a testament to their faith in the chosen personnel.

Best XI

Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah

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