On paper, on the field, the Delhi Capitals lineup has been no match for the Mumbai Indians. Such has been the dominance of the defending champions throughout the tournament that, on any given day, any player, be it Quinton de Kock, Hardik Pandya, Ishan kishan, Kieron pollard, Jasprit bumrah o Trent Boult – has seemed capable of snatching the game from the rival without help from anyone.
While Delhi will seek to turn the tables as best it can in Tuesday’s final, there is no way to get away from the fact that MI has been a) the most dominant side among all teams this year; b) MI has never dominated an IPL edition like it did this season.
The form and confidence that MI brought to this tournament was not built overnight as the IPL train rushed, towards the last two weeks of August, to rush to the United Arab Emirates. Even as the BCCI took the time to announce that the IPL would move out of the country, subject to mandatory government permits, the Mumbai Indians had already been working on the idea since June, a little over two months before the official announcement will arrive.
“The idea was to be ready, in case the announcement arrives. At best, even if the IPL hadn’t happened, the players (IM) would still have been working on their fitness and cricket, which was beneficial to everyone, ”those follow-up developments say.
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It was in June that the top management of the franchise met for the first time to discuss the ways in which they could do it, considering the perspective of this year’s edition. In doing so, here is a general idea of how things worked within the MI camp:
* In June 2020, MI management first discussed the possibility of IPL this season and decided that should the tournament take place, they should be ready with their set of plans regardless of whether the event had place in India or moved abroad.
* At the end of June, a hotel in Navi Mumbai, very close to the Jio Cricket Stadium, was assigned, disinfected and kept ready for the players and the franchise support staff to stay. MI management established its own bio-bubble that would allow cricketers to stay at the hotel and travel to the stadium and return to practice every day, once they arrived and finished the mandatory two-week quarantine.
* In early July, Mumbai-based MI cricketers and their family members were asked to undergo the necessary Covid tests and once all the results were negative, these players started visiting the Navi Mumbai facility to practice regularly.
* Considering the heavy monsoons, the indoor training facilities of the Jio Stadium were opened for the players and a huge canopy was erected in the middle of the ground, covering almost the entire 30-yard circle for the players to undergo network sessions even during the rainy season. The canopy ensured that the three central fields remained protected at all times.
* In mid-July, IM cricketers from the rest of the country began gradually flying to Mumbai, where possible and following established protocols: self-quarantine at the Navi Mumbai hotel for the mandatory period of two weeks prior. joining the rest of the players in the networks.
* Towards the end of July, once the BCCI began to confirm that the IPL would move to the United Arab Emirates, senior IM cricketers such as Jasprit Bumrah and the Pandya brothers, Krunal and Hardik, joined the camp. .
* By the time August rolled around, the Mumbai Indians had their logistical and operational plans for the UAE in place. Once BCCI told them they would have to be based in Abu Dhabi, the franchise allocated a hotel at the other end of the capital city and booked an entire wing.
* Booking an entire wing of the hotel would ensure that the franchise would be completely isolated from the other half of the hotel, in case there were other guests. Players would have exclusive access to amenities like the pool and restaurants within the hotel.
* In doing so, MI also did the following. They organized their own state-of-the-art gymnasium, game stations and other recreational activities for their players within the hotel and sanitized all facilities, which would help during the ‘tortuous’ quarantine period.
* For safety reasons, MI took minor precautions, such as reserving two team buses instead of one. The franchise, in fact, went to the extreme of eliminating an alternate row of seats within the team bus to give players more legroom and maintain long-distance trips between Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, Dubai and vice versa.
* While all of this was going on in the United Arab Emirates, in India, the training session picked up speed and the fitness regimes took to the next level as players began to get into their rhythm after a nearly five-month break from the game.
* MI began to consider the smaller aspects of comfort and well-being, such as making plans to travel with a barber (given that the team would be inside a bio-bubble in the UAE for more than two months) and setting up their own kitchen at the Abu Dhabi hotel, to suit different palettes.
* The entire team flew to the United Arab Emirates in the third week of August, with less than a month left before the tournament began. The BCCI launched the IPL 2020 scheduled on September 6, confirming that Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings would play the opening game, when overseas IM players were about to fly or were about to arrive. Quinton de Kock and Nathan Coulter-Nile were among the first to arrive, followed by Trent Boult, Chris Lynn and James Pattinson. Kieron Pollard and Sherfane Rutherford flew last after the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) concluded on September 10.
* With mandatory Covid testing and quarantines over, the team hit the nets with full force and played several matches inside camp, under the lights, to find the perfect rhythm. “It has been a work in progress since then,” say those who follow the franchise.
Regardless of whether the Mumbai Indians lift the trophy on Tuesday, which if they do so will be a record fifth time, the effort put into and off the field by the franchise remains a case study for the rest of the ecosystem.
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