CHENNAI: Mumbai Indians are Indian Premier League royalty. Five-time champions, perennial contenders, an excel sheet cricket club who have married the art of off-field data with on-field execution. They also lose a lot of games in the first phase of the campaign before course-correcting in the latter part of the season.
Sometimes, it works out. In 2015, they began the season by losing four in a row. They finished the league phase by winning seven of the last eight. Including the qualifier and the final, they won nine of the last 10 — an incredible streak considering T20 is a high variance sport even at the very elite level — to lift their second IPL title.
Sometimes, it doesn’t work out. In 2018, they lost five of their opening six games before stringing together five wins in seven games. Any win off their last league game against Delhi Daredevils would have confirmed qualification. But they fell short.
On a sunbathed Wankhede Stadium, they were not in a dissimilar position. They had to beat Hyderabad to give themselves a chance, any chance, of being in the mix. If nothing else, a win would put pressure on Bangalore — if weather permitted in the Garden City later in the day — in the league’s last game against Gujarat.
Just like the majority of the last month, they did what was asked of them with minimum fuss. Riding on a four-fer from the uncapped Akash Madhwal and an inspired 100 from Cameron Green, they beat Hyderabad by eight wickets to leapfrog Bangalore into fourth place. It was their fifth win in their last seven league games; it was the sort of display one has come to expect from the franchise when the chips are down.
After 69 matches, it finally came down to the last league match to decide the fourth team in the playoffs. Bangalore would have liked Hyderabad’s positive start with the bat not least because there was all sorts of electrical activity in the Bangalore skies. The heavens had opened as early as Saturday with weather reports suggesting a shortened match.
Once the electrical activity stopped and the overhead conditions cleared, Virat Kohli, whose evolution as a T20 batter continues, assumed centre stage to give Bangalore a prayer. Asked to bat first by Hardik Pandya, Bangalore, as they have so often done this season, came out focusing on clearing the infield in the first six overs. While Kohli looked to hit the ball too hard, Du Plessis was on the money. A lot of Gujarat success has been down to Mohammed Shami picking powerplay wickets. Deny him that and the side can lose its oxygen. That’s what happened as Du Plessis climbed into him, muscling him for four fours across five drama-filled balls in the third over. It wasn’t pretty but who wants pretty when there’s a match to be won?
That was the wake-up call Kohli (he was on eight of 10 at this stage) needed. The left-arm pace of Yash Dayal was despatched thrice on the leg side for three fours. When Kohli hits Rashid Khan for a boundary off his first ball, you know he’s in the mood, alright. That was one of the features of his innings as he brought up back-to-back 100s in the league. Even as wickets fell at regular intervals, Kohli didn’t allow himself to be stuck when the spinners were in operation.
Here’s a small sample of how he paced his innings. Against the Pacers in the first 15 overs, he scored 33 off 22. Off the spinners, it was an equally impressive 30 off 21. But he didn’t need to take undue chances as Michael Bracewell provided the ballast, a 26 off 16 just when it seemed like the innings needed that spark.
What has worked so well for Kohli over the years even in this format — something that had seemingly deserted him for some time — was his ability to maneuver pace in the end. Under the Chinnaswamy lights on Sunday night, that old magic was visible as he scored 34 off 14 in the end overs.
Was it going to be enough? Kohli’s innings made that question possible. However, Shubman Gill, the man many think will ultimately replace Kohli as India’s next white ball great played an innings based on authority and impudence. While they never allowed the asking rate to go out of hand, Bangalore was in with a sniff before Gill’s swagger reduced the sniff to sniffles. And thanks to him, Mumbai, sitting a 1000 kms away, will take their place in the eliminator against Lucknow on Wednesday.
Brief scores SRH 200/5 in 20 ovs (Agarwal 83, Vivrant 69; Madhwal 4/37) lost to MI 201/2 in 18 ovs (Green 100 n.o, Rohit 56).
