With the end of the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Mumbai Indians have once again risen to the top with a one run victory against Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS), a team that has beaten it twice in the league stages as well as once in the playoffs. This is the third title for MI – the most for any team in the tournament. RPS, which was in the finals for the first time, may have thought it would lord it over, and it may have been justified as well given how it had put it across the champion on three separate occasions. However, when it mattered the most, Rohit Sharma’s men landed the killer blow and won the trophy.
The role of bowlers
Throughout the tournament MI has shown itself to be a side with perhaps the best bowling lineup with six bowlers all capable of bowling their full quota of overs. This is no mean feat considering that there were some very good bowling units in the tournament. In the finals too, pace bowlers Mitchell Johnson and Jasprit Bumrah delivered a couple of superb overs in the final stages and stifled RPS’ chase to within a run of victory. RPS only needed to get a seemingly-paltry 130 for the chase but could only manage 128 for the loss of six wickets.
In fact, after winning the final Sharma said that he had always backed his pace bowlers to deliver in crucial situations such as the business end of the RPS inning. In fact, along with Bumrah and Johnson, Lasith Malinga also played a major role in the team coming up with a thrilling win against all odds. In the post-match presentation he said that the pitch was helping bowlers and he knew that his pace bowlers would be able to exploit those conditions. He said that when it came to the last three overs he was confident that his pace bowlers would pull it off considering how they had done it throughout the tournament.
What was refreshing in Sharma’s post-match comments was that he was willing to give them the necessary freedom since he considered them to be “masters”. In a batsman-dominated game this is music to the ears, especially of ones who love the game and want to see an engaging game where all players have a chance. He said that he allowed them to do whatever they wanted and let them set their own fields. He also implicitly admitted that he had been suffering from a bit of nerves during the stage when the team was defending the total.
What helped MI?
The easily-distinguishable characteristics of MI’s game are their attitude of never giving up no matter what and always remaining calm no matter how hot it got for them. In fact, earlier on in the tournament MI’s Hardik Pandya said that the team’s confidence was being misinterpreted as arrogance. In the end what he said was proved to be right even as MI maintained its composure in the tough final game while RPS lost its. They were these qualities that helped it defeat a spirited team like RPS.
