Unpopular opinion: the tight points table and that photo-final at the end of the league stage, which suggest that this was the most contested IPL, it was all a lie. This was possibly the most one-sided IPL. Neither team came close to suggesting they could challenge the Mumbai Indians on a consistent basis. They were way ahead of all other teams in the most significant metrics in the Twenty20 format. For example, they scored 137 sixes on the season, 34 more than the next team and more than double the side with the least.
It all started with exploring and developing players years ago, but Mumbai is still way ahead of the rest in terms of the players they retain, the job they do at the auction, and the transfers traded in the offseason. And yet T20 is a fickle format. Last year, after losing to Mumbai three games in a row, the Chennai Super Kings led them to the last ball of the final. That even these players talk about things like the curse of even years tells you how even these elite practitioners bow to the vagaries of the format. Especially in a sport that is so obsessed with finals that it’s willing to discount sustained excellence in the league stages, even in a tournament as long as the IPL.
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So it was important that Mumbai dominate one more night at IPL 2020. Anything less would have been almost unfair to his excellence. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that Mumbai will beat any other team in this tournament seven out of 10. However, when you’ve won three in a row against a particular opponent, especially given the fickle format, you can be wary of having a night off. But Mumbai was very involved in the final. And, as usually happens with them, it started long before the game. Rahul Chahar had been their favorite spinner for over a year, but they were happy to respect the form and the fighting. Chahar’s last 10 overs had gone to more than 10 and Jayant Yadav was better prepared to pitch to the left hitters that dot the Delhi Capitals’ lineup. And Jayant was ready even though this was only his second match of the tournament.
When the match started, Trent Boult summed up all that is right with Mumbai. Boult is not someone whose T20 numbers you look at and say, “Wow, we want it.” Mumbai, however, had a specific role in mind for him. The Capitals, who moved Boult to Mumbai, didn’t even know what they were giving up. Perhaps because they were never in a position to exploit what Mumbai was looking for. Boult can get in trouble when you ask him to be a full T20 bowler, which is what the Capitals wanted from him. Mumbai, on the other hand, said: swing the ball in the power play, and the others will take over after that.
Boult restored the faith with an excellent execution of that skill. And it’s not just the swing. It’s also the scrambled seam ball that he and New Zealand teammate Tim Southee toss, which almost bit the other way after throwing. With a mix of that, Boult picked up five Capitals wickets in the first overs of this tournament, including Marcus Stoinis’ first ball in the final. They were all different: swing, taper and then cut, then the short ball that came in and went big at Stoinis.
Arguably Mumbai made a mistake in the final when they didn’t chase Rishabh Pant as soon as he entered. However, when he threatened to walk away from them, they showed they had that extra layer: being able to effectively play defensive cricket. At 94-for-3 in 12 overs, with the Pant set and Shreyas Iyer’s association reading 72 at that stage, the Capitals were able to handle just 62 in the final eight overs. It was an experienced team that showed they knew when to go through the wicket and when to defend, and to do so efficiently.
However, it was perhaps the way the persecution began that summed up Mumbai dominance. Quinton de Kock has been no less strong than Boult, who finished with the highest power play wickets in a single IPL. Most runs in the power play, the highest hit rate for a regular starter in the power play, most six in the power play … de Kock has done it all and done it. selflessly. He knew there was no Orange Cap waiting for him given the way he played, but Mumbai is a team that recognizes that this, total attack, is the way it opens at T20. The way he defeated Kagiso Rabada, the tournament’s biggest wicket bearer, was the icing on the cake that the season has been for Mumbai.
Among the few hitters who had a higher hit rate than de Kock in this tournament’s power play was Suryakumar Yadav. And he underscored the Mumbai approach. No fighters, no blocking right past a big wicket, he just went out and hit a four and a six to tell Stoinis that he could have gotten a wicket, but he had no right to bowling in the power play. Not this side of Mumbai, at least.
There were many talented hitters in this tournament, from Virat Kohli to Shubhman Gill to Shreyas Iyer, who could not, or could not, hit the pace that is needed in T20 cricket. Suryakumar and Ishan Kishan, however, showed for the last time the joy of that fluid hitting in the middle, a hallmark of Mumbai cricket.
In part, they were able to do it because behind them were two of cricket’s deadliest hitters and a dangerous floater. However, Pollard and the Pandya brothers and their special abilities weren’t much needed on the night of the finale.
And so Mumbai finished the tournament with just three losses in regulation time, the lowest overall in an IPL. They didn’t lose a single game while chasing. However, they were so good at defending that they forced their final opponent to make the lowest percentage call in the draw.
The one-sided outcome may seem anticlimactic to some, but it was the fitting end that Mumbai brilliance deserved. The brilliance can sometimes get dull, but in this format, especially when maintained during a tournament, it is something to appreciate.
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