The Mumbai juggernaut rolls over challenging opponents

By K.R. Nayar

Trouncing Kolkata Knight Riders and recording their fifth consecutive win, Mumbai is living up to the role of the defending champion

The Mumbai juggernaut seems unstoppable, squashing all opponents in their way. They trounced Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets on Friday and are living up to the role of the champions. What is it that makes them look like the mighty team of this IPL?

They are a team that knows what it takes to be the champion. They are not only the defending champions but have emerged winners four times. On Friday, it was a performance that can create envy in others. To win with 19 balls to spare was a clinical performance.

The stunning first catch of the day by Mumbai’s Suryakumar Yadav to dismiss Kolkata’s opener Rahul Tripathi set the tone. Sometimes a superlative act by a team member can lift the spirits of the entire team.  Before the amazement for the catch faded away, Kolkata was reduced to 61 for 5.

The mantle of lifting Kolkata then fell on Eoin Morgan, who had hardly worn the captain’s cap following Dinesh Karthik’s decision to give up captaincy and concentrate on his batting.  With a change in Kolkata’s strategy halfway through the tournament and half the team back in the dug-out in 10.4 overs, Morgan, in his first match as captain, was forced to fight valiantly.  If not for Pat Cummins’s maiden IPL half-century and Morgan’s stubborn 39, as well as the last over thrashing of Nathan Coulter-Nile for 21 runs, Kolkata would have barely managed to post the fighting total of 148 for 5. This was the only good patch for Kolkata during the entire match, and that reveals Mumbai’s dominance throughout the game.

Mumbai skipper and Indian Cricket’s Hit Man Rohit Sharma, by hitting the first ball of his team’s innings to the boundary, set the tempo for the chase. Seeing his partner Quinton De Kock stroking freely and smoothly, Sharma decided to restrict himself from going for the big hits. De Kock raced to his third half-century in this tournament, and together with his skipper put on 94 runs in 10.3 overs making Kolkata bowlers look like doing a wasteful act. When Hardik Pandya walked in, he speeded up the victory by hitting 21 runs with three boundaries and a six in 21 balls, making even De Kock, who remained unbeaten on 78, applaud for him.

If Sharma is able to guard his team against complacency, they could well earn the tag ‘Mighty Mumbai’ and defend their title.