The Mumbai Indians are one of the most successful franchises in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). With five titles in their cabinet, Mumbai, along with Chennai Super Kings (CSK), have won the tournament the joint most number of times. However, it is also a fact that ever since the win in the 2020 edition, the team has struggled in the competition, failing to win the tournament in the last five years. Mumbai has made the playoffs only twice in the last five years, finishing at the bottom of the points table twice (2022 and 2024).
However, head coach Mahela Jayawardene isn’t too bothered about recent history, saying his team has won five titles, which is a lot to boast about, considering how some teams haven’t won the IPL. It is worth noting that the Delhi Capitals, Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants are yet to open their account in terms of IPL trophy victories.
“10 teams makes it even harder competition. But I think in the last 5 years, we were in the playoffs 2 or 3 times, if I am not mistaken. So that means we had our opportunities in just that last bit. I don’t know how to answer this properly. In a competition like this, you have to take one game at a time and go through the process. As a team, we know that we have done well consistently over a period of time,” Jayawardene told reporters at the pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of the fixture against the Delhi Capitals.
“We just need to continue to trust that process and keep playing good cricket. And we will get there. And how we have been successful is by doing the same thing. So I don’t see why we need to do something different. But as long as we keep pushing ourselves to the limit in every game and have the same attitude on and off the field to be a better team, a better franchise. I think the results will take care of themselves. Rather than putting ourselves under pressure at the beginning of the season. Saying we haven’t won it for 4 years. But some teams haven’t won it forever either. So we are not rubbing it in. But with all due respect, we just thought that we would trust our process. And work on ourselves on how we need to go about it,” he added.
The captaincy baton was also passed from Rohit Sharma to Hardik Pandya before the 2024 edition of the tournament. All wasn’t hunky dory that season, and it’s well documented. However, in the IPL 2026 edition, Mumbai, led by Hardik, are the firm favourites to win the silverware and win the tournament for the sixth time. The presence of Rohit, Hardik, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Tilak Varma makes Mumbai the team to look out for.
Mumbai Indians’ good start
For the first time in 13 years, the Mumbai Indians won their opening match of the season after defeating the Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium on March 29. Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton hit half-centuries as the five-time champions chased down the target of 221 with five balls to spare.
The franchise will next face the Delhi Capitals on Saturday, April 4, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
