Franchise history
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced in September 2007 the establishment of the Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 competition to be started in 2008.[7] In January 2008, the BCCI unveiled the owners of eight city-based franchises. The Mumbai franchise was sold to the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) for $111.9 million, making it the most expensive team to be sold in the league.[8] RIL, owned by Mukesh Ambani acquired the rights to the franchise for a period of 10 years. The franchise was eventually named “Mumbai Indians”.
Team history
2008–2009: Struggle in the initial seasons
The Indian Premier League named four players as icon players for their respective city franchises which made the players unavailable to play for any team other than their city team. Sachin Tendulkar was named Mumbai’s icon player. The icon player was also entitled to earn 15% more than the next-best paid player in their team. At first player auctions for the inaugural IPL season conducted in February 2008, the Mumbai franchise bought several star international cricketers such as Sanath Jayasuriya, Harbhajan Singh, Shaun Pollock, Lasith Malinga and Robin Uthappa.[9] The franchise named Sachin Tendulkar as the captain of the team and appointed former India cricketer Lalchand Rajput as the head coach. However, Tendulkar was injured before the start of the 2008 season due to which Harbhajan Singh took over as the captain in the initial stage of the season. The team got off to a bad start in the season losing their first four games by some comprehensive margins. Their first match was a five-wicket defeat to the Royal Challengers Bangalore on 20 April 2008 at the Wankhede. Their stand-in captain, Harbhajan, was suspended from the tournament for reportedly slapping Sreesanth during Mumbai’s league match against Kings XI Punjab. After Harbhajan’s suspension, Shaun Pollock assumed the leadership duties until Tendulkar’s return on 24 May. Under Pollock’s captaincy, Mumbai won six out of their next six games which left them needing to win two more out of the remaining four matches to qualify for the semifinals. Mumbai suffered three last-over defeats in the next three games, including two off the last ball, before winning their last league match. They finished fifth in the points table with 7 wins and 7 losses, missing out on a semifinal spot by just one point.[10]
The 2009 season was played in South Africa as it coincided with multi-phase 2009 Indian general elections due to which the Government of India refused to commit the Indian paramilitary forces to provide security for the IPL. Before the start of the season, Mumbai Indians traded Robin Uthappa for Zaheer Khan with Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Ashish Nehra for Shikhar Dhawan with the Delhi Daredevils. Shaun Pollock retired after the first season and became the head coach of the team. Lasith Malinga, who missed the previous season due to an injury, returned to the team. At the player auction, Mumbai bought South African batsman JP Duminy to strengthen their batting department. After winning their opening match against the Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai struggled to put up consistent performances during the season. They relied heavily on Duminy and Tendulkar’s batting, and Malinga’s bowling along with minimal contributions from other players. With only five wins from 14 matches, Mumbai finished on seventh place in the league table.
2010–2012: Rise as a strong team
Lasith Malinga is the leading wicket-taker in IPL with 150 wickets since its inception.[11]
At the 2010 players auction, Mumbai Indians bought Trinidadian all-rounder Kieron Pollard for $750,000 following a secret tiebreaker. After the auction, they signed up ten uncapped Indian players out whom seven were former ICL players. Former India cricketer Robin Singh was named as the head coach of the team as Pollock took up the role of bowling coach. Mumbai had to shift their home venue to Brabourne Stadiumfor the season since the Wankhede was undergoing renovation to host some matches of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. Mumbai won seven of their first eight games to take the top spot in the points table. Their success was mainly due to the efforts of Tendulkar, Malinga, Harbhajan, Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary. They won three of the remaining six league games and finished with 20 points from 14 games at the top of the points table. They beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 runs in the semifinal, thanks to Pollard’s all-round efforts (33* from 13 balls, and 3/17). At the final, they were defeated by the Chennai Super Kings by 22 runs. The Mumbai team management was criticised for the “strategic errors” during the final such as sending Abhishek Nayar and Harbhajan at batting positions 3 and 4 respectively while Duminy and Pollard were sent at 7 and 8. Mumbai skipper Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 618 runs at an average of 47.53 and strike rate of 132.6, won the Orange Cap for scoring most runs in the season. Mumbai qualified for the 2010 Champions League Twenty20 where they were eliminated in the group stage with two wins and two defeats in four matches.
In 2011, with the addition of two new teams to the IPL, the IPL Governing Council declared that each franchise could retain a maximum of four players of their 2010 squad, and the rest of the international players would be auctioned. Mumbai Indians retained Tendulkar, Harbhajan, Pollard and Malinga for a sum of $4.5 million. This retention left the franchise with the power of spending $4.5 million at the auction where they purchased Indian batsman Rohit Sharma for $2 million, former Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds for $850,000, and pacer Munaf Patel for $700,000. Mumbai won eight of their first ten league games following which they suffered a loss of form that led to three consecutive defeats and a last-ball win in their last league match. They finished third on the points table with 18 points from 14 games and qualified for the Eliminator. The Eliminator was played at the Wankhede where Mumbai faced the Kolkata Knight Riders. After winning the toss and electing to bowl first, Mumbai restricted Kolkata to 147 in 20 overs and chased down the target for the loss of six wickets with four balls to spare. Munaf Patel won the Man of the Match for his bowling figures of 3/27. With this win, Mumbai qualified for the Qualifying final against Royal Challengers Bangalore, the winner of which would play the Super Kings in the final. Mumbai skipper Tendulkar won the toss once again and put their opposition into bat who set Mumbai a target of 186. Mumbai kept losing wickets at regular intervals from the start of their innings and could score only 142/8, falling short by 43 runs. The top two leading wicket-takers of the season were Mumbai Indians pacers Lasith Malinga and Munaf Patel with 28 and 22 wickets respectively.
Mumbai qualified for the 2011 Champions League Twenty20 held in India. Before the start of the tournament, six first-choice Indian players in the Mumbai squad including Tendulkar, Sharma and Patel were ruled out of the tournament due to injuries and two more Indian players were ruled out based on medical reports. This left their 14-member squad with only six Indian players, while the tournament allowed a maximum of four overseas players and minimum of seven local players in the playing eleven. An exception was made for the Mumbai Indians which permitted them to field five overseas players during the tournament. Harbhajan was named the stand-in captain in the absence of Tendulkar. Mumbai were placed in Group A alongside Chennai Super Kings, New South Wales Blues, Cape Cobras and Trinidad & Tobago. Mumbai had two wins, one defeat and one no result in the group stage which gave them the second place on the group points table with five points. They qualified for the semifinal and Mumbai batsman Suryakumar Yadav returned to the squad after recovering from his injury. This led to the withdrawal of the concession given by the Champions League for the Mumbai Indians to field five overseas players. Mumbai faced Somerset County Cricket Club in the semifinal at Chennai. Batting first, Mumbai made 160/5 in 20 overs. Somerset’s chase was dented by Malinga who picked four wickets for 20 (all bowled) to help Mumbai restrict Somerset to 150 and win the match by 10 runs. The final was also played in Chennai where Mumbai met Royal Challengers Bangalore. Mumbai batted first and managed only 139 in 20 overs. Bangalore started strongly in the run-chase putting 38 for the first wicket before Malinga broke the partnership. Harbhajan then picked up the key wickets of Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli triggering a batting collapse and eventually Bangalore were bowled out for 108, giving Mumbai a 31-run victory and their first-ever title. Harbahajan was named player of the match and Malinga won the man of the tournament award. Andrew Symonds retired from all forms of cricket in early 2012.
Before the start of the 2012 season, the Mumbai Indians traded Dinesh Karthik from Kings XI Punjab and Pragyan Ojha from the Deccan Chargers for undisclosed sums. At the auction, the franchise bought five players including R. P. Singh, Thisara Perera (both for $600,000) and Mitchell Johnson. Tendulkar stepped down from captaincy hours before the season’s first game following which Harbhajan was appointed as the captain. In the first half of the league stage, Mumbai had four wins and four defeats, including three losses at home. Mumbai did not have a fixed opening combination, with Tendulkar missing out four matches due to an injury and other opening batsmen failing to show consistency. Johnson was ruled out of rest of the season in late-April with an injury and Dwayne Smith was named his replacement in the squad. Mumbai fared better in the second half of the league stage, winning six of their eight matches. They finished third on the points table with 20 points from 16 matches and qualified for the Eliminator against the fourth-placed Chennai Super Kings at Bangalore. Mumbai won the toss and put Chennai in to bat first. After losing two wickets inside the first two overs, Chennai managed to put up 187/5 in 20 overs mainly because of their captain MS Dhoni‘s unbeaten 20-ball 51. Mumbai’s chase had started solidly with the score reading 47/0 in the fifth over, before they started losing wickets at regular intervals to end at 149/9 and lose the match by 38 runs. They gained direct qualification to the 2012 Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa, along with the three IPL teams that finished at the top that season. Mumbai, placed in Group B, were winless in the tournament with three defeats and one no result.
2013– The IPL and CLT20 Double
Rohit Sharma became the captain of Mumbai Indians in 2013 and has since led them to three IPL titles.
The 2013 IPL saw Anil Kumble being appointed as the chief mentor, after he quit a similar position from Royal Challengers Bangalore. With a slump in batting form of Ricky Ponting, he was eventually dropped from the playing eleven and Rohit Sharma took lead of the team. Having the experienced advice of the likes of Anil Kumble, Jonty Rhodes and Sachin Tendulkar, the team emerged victorious in IPL 2013.
In the year 2013 Mumbai Indians started off by losing against the Royal Challengers Bangalore because of the efforts of Chris Gayle and pace bowler Vinay Kumar but they were able to make a comeback in that match because of Dinesh Karthik due to which Mumbai lost by just one run. In the second match against the Chennai Super Kings the openers went off cheaply but because of the efforts of Dinesh Karthik and Kieron Pollard Mumbai had put a defendable score on the board. The Mumbai Indians bowlers started off well by dismissing Murali Vijay cheaply and the match went off till the last over with the Super Kings needing 16 off the last over with MS Dhoni on strike and Munaf Patel to bowl; Patel dismissed Dhoni on the first ball and Mumbai won the match comfortably by 9 runs. In their third match against the Delhi Daredevils Mumbai once again lost their openers Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar cheaply and this time it was again Dinesh Karthik who brought the match in Mumbai’s grasp, but this time it was not Kieron Pollard, but it was Rohit Sharma with him which helped the Mumbai Indians reach the formidable score of 209/5. At one stage it looked that David Warner would snatch the game away from Mumbai but the Mumbai Indians bowlers got rid of David Warner by dismissing him and then the Delhi Daredevils collapsed due to which Mumbai Indians won comfortably by 44 runs. In the next match against the Pune Warriors India Mumbai got off to a flying start with a 54-run opening stand between the so-called Pon-dulkar(Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar) and then it was followed by Rohit Sharma due to which Mumbai scored 183/3 and won the match comfortably by 41 runs. In the next match against the Rajasthan Royals Mumbai were bundled out for just 92 giving the Rajasthan Royals an 83-run victory due to which Ricky Ponting stepped down as a captain and retired from all forms of cricket. With Rohit Sharma in good batting form, he was made the captain. Under his captaincy the Mumbai Indians improved a lot and won their first IPL title.
They continued their winning streak in the Champions League. But in the Champions league, too, they had quite slow start which saw them having to win their final match of the league stage against the Perth Scorchers by a margin; they did it by the combined efforts of Nathan Coulter-Nile, Dwayne Smith and skipper Rohit Sharma. In the final Glenn Maxwell scored a quick fire 14-ball 37. Mumbai posted 202/6 and won the match comfortably by 33 runs.
Mumbai Indians 