IPL 2019: 5 Reasons why Mumbai Indians will win the tournament

The 12th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has reached its business end and the excitement of cricket fans in general and Indian cricket fans, in particular, is sky-high. It has all boiled down to three teams, as of now, with Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals having some business to do. Mumbai Indians are already in the finals, after thumping CSK in Qualifier 1, and are looking pretty solid to lift the trophy for the fourth time.

The Delhi Capitals have been brilliant this whole season with their young guns, like Rishabh Pant and Prithvi Shaw, doing well besides the likes of Ishant Sharma and others. Kagiso Rabada, who has been one of DC’s most important members this year will no longer be available to Shreyas Iyer and co., due to an injury. This has come as a big blow to the Delhi-based team as it could potentially cost them their maiden IPL title.

Whoever among CSK and DC qualify for the finals, they will have to go past Mumbai Indians who are looking extremely strong at the moment.

Here we bring you 5 Reasons why Mumbai Indians will win IPL 2019:

1. Great record in IPL finals

The Rohit Sharma-led MI has been the most successful team in the last 6 years of the IPL. Starting from 2013, Mumbai Indians have won three IPL trophies in just 6 seasons, IPL 2019 being the seventh. Their first championship victory came in 2013, followed by triumphs in 2015 and 2017 seasons, respectively. They would love this trend of winning the titles in alternate years to go on, and if that happens, Mumbai Indians will get their fourth championship victory in a few days, the most by any IPL team.

Mumbai Indians have some amazing numbers in the finals of the tournament. In the four IPL finals they have played till now, the three-time champions, as the words suggest, have won three. That is quite an achievement, given the fact that the most consistent IPL team right from the first season, Chennai Super Kings, despite playing in 7 IPL finals (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018) till now, have only managed three victories.

2. Impressive against CSK

The overall head-to-head battle between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings gives a clear indication of how dominant the boys in blue-and-gold have been over the ones in yellow. The two teams have played as many as 27 matches against each other, in which the MS Dhoni-led team has won 11, while the Mumbai Indians have come out as the happier side in the remaining 16 matches. If the two teams face-off in the finals, the Mumbai-based franchise will definitely be more confident going into the clash.

This season, in particular, has been a pretty good one for Mumbai Indians against Chennai Super Kings. Rohit Sharma’s men have defeated MS Dhoni’s troops every time they have faced-off in 2019. That will be a big confidence booster for the already confident three-time champs, who also finished the league stage of the tournament this season as the top-ranked side.

3. Better mix of youth and experience than DC

Besides CSK, DC is the other team of hopefuls who would love to face Mumbai Indians in the finals. Led by Shreyas Iyer, the Delhi Capitals have surprised many by reaching this far in the tournament this year. The erstwhile Delhi Daredevils was one of the most unsuccessful teams in the history of IPL, but the change of name before the start of the tournament this year seems to have done the trick for them.

With youngsters like Rishabh Pant and Prithvi Shaw complimenting the more experienced ones like Shikhar Dhawan and Ishant, DC certainly looks like a capable team on paper, but when compared to the experienced ones, like Rohit, Pollard and Malinga, in the MI dugout or even the young guns like, Hardik, Mayank and Chahar, Iyer’s men seem to be just a shade behind. Mumbai will fancy their chances if they are to face Delhi on the 12th of this month.

4. In-form middle-order

The middle-order of Mumbai Indians has looked solid right from the start. After the openers, the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya, have all chipped in with some useful runs at very good strike-rates at some point this season. While Surya has mostly been involved in steadying the ship, players like Pandya-brothers and Pollard have more often been aggressive.

The younger Pandya, in particular, has been the stand-out performer for MI this season, his lusty, but oh so stylish, blows towards the end of the innings have managed to grab quite a few eyeballs. The middle-order contributing consistently is a very good news for Rohit Sharma as it will allow him and his opening partner to play freely at the start of the innings accumulating as many runs as possible.

Having a good middle-order also gives MI the luxury of experimenting a bit with the bat in hand, as they will look to be the best they can come the finals.

5. Brilliant bowling attack

Having two of the best bowlers and death-overs specialists of modern-day cricket in Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga in the same team is something a lot of teams, obviously excluding Mumbai Indians, can only dream of. Rohit Sharma will consider himself really lucky to have them both, in addition to other brilliant players in the Mumbai Indians squad.

Besides having a lethal pace-attack, Rohit Sharma also has talented and hardworking spinners like Mayank Markande, Krunal Pandya, Jayant Yadav and Rahul Chahar at his disposal. The senior Pandya, Jayant and Chahar were the ones who absolutely dismantled the CSK top-order, a couple of days ago, that eventually helped MI win the Qualifier-1 and book a spot in the IPL finals.

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