Mumbai Indians were pioneers in the IPL. They are now playing catch-up.

The name Mumbai Indians signifies IPL royalty. A franchise that commands the awe and respect of fans across the country. It was a team that ran on continuity, effectiveness, and a spirit of familial ties that went above and beyond the playing field. 

Moreover, MI were the pioneers of bringing data and scouting into the franchise circuit. Not too long ago, they were arguably regarded as the best-ever franchise cricket side to be assembled when they won their 5th IPL title in 2020.

Mumbai Indians currently are in 7th place playing catch-up to the leaders. And sadly, they are also playing catch-up to the rest of the sides in terms of adapting to changing times.

This season has seen the MI spiral freely from one crisis to another with no end in sight. The loss against Punjab Kings the other night was their 4th consecutive loss in the league, and their second straight at home. While they did manage to get back to winning ways against the Gujarat Titans, the skipper and team management have openly spoken about the team either unable to take the hard decisions needed or the fact that the team have yet to find their “Identity”.

The last thing you want to hear from a franchise as storied as MI is that they do not have an identity or are still in search of it. That is a damning indictment of the timeline they find themselves in, where the teams who aimed to emulate them now are leapfrogging them in terms of identity, structure, and adapting to the times. 

For this season, the batting has failed to fire. Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, and Hardik Pandya have failed to fire in the middle order. Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton have failed to provide the explosive starts that they were so effortlessly providing last season. With the ball, each of the bowlers have failed to cover themselves in glory, with the wicketless tournament of Jasprit Bumrah in particular hurting the side big time.

The team seems to run out of ideas every time they hit adversity. The skipper emanates a body language that seems more disinterested than being invested into pulling his side back into the contest. While the senior figures in the side are not exactly taking the mantle of responsibility to steady things up when the ship has been sinking.

Constant chopping and changing in the batting order, wayward bowling right from the onset, and even player availability has hampered the Mumbai Indians big time this season. However, the root of all this malaise can be traced down to a singular call made way back in 2024 that has changed the franchise and the things that it stands for.

It was the aftermath of the 2023 season that MI under Rohit Sharma made the playoffs, only to lose against Hardik’s Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2. Rohit then went on to lead India to that 50-over World Cup Final in the same year only to suffer heartbreak against Australia. 

The MI head brass thought that it was time to have a change in the leadership. So thus came about the trade that saw Hardik make a homecoming to the Mumbai Indians. Now the ideal course of succession planning would have been for Rohit to continue leading the side in the 2024 season after which the reins could be given to Hardik ahead of the mega auction for the 2025 season.

But everything was so poorly handled from the inner circle that the 2024 season was a complete dumpster fire. While Hardik undoubtedly has the leadership chops in him, it does feel like he is unable to perform under pressure, and his body language tends to drop at the first sight of pressure. Whether it is him trying too hard or not, it does not put him in a good light.

It has been 5 years since they last lifted that trophy. In that period, they have had 2 bottom-placed finishes, while Chennai Super Kings went on to win 2 IPL titles in the same span to get level on trophy with them. The scouting still remains peerless, but opportunities for those promising players are now few and far between. 

MI often refers to themselves as “One Family”. Nowadays, it seems like it is anything but a family. For so long the pioneers and the standard-bearers of the IPL, Mumbai Indians are falling behind, and are unable to keep up with the changing times.