Five-time champions Mumbai Indians once again proved to be a lethal team in chasing in this edition of the Indian Premier League as they became the first IPL team in the history of the league to chase down 200-plus targets on three occasions in a single season.
Mumbai Indians have been inconsistent in the league stage, with them losing the first two encounters against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings, but came back strongly to register a hat-trick of wins, before losing out their way against Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans.
They won their two next games Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings before losing out to their arch-rivals Chennai in the second leg and came back stronger against the Faf- du Plessis-led side to chase down the total within 17 overs to move up in the points table to give them the best chance to qualify for the playoffs.
Rohit Sharma-side has one of the most dangerous batting line-ups in the league as they chased down 200 plus total against formidable bowling attacks of Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings, and Royal Challengers Bangalore taking on the top quality bowlers like bowlers like Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Wanindu Hasaranga and Mohammed Siraj in the league stage.
With the chase against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians surpassed the Punjab Kings (2014) and Chennai Super Kings (2018) record of two successful 200-plus chases in the league history and also become the team winning with the most balls to spare in the chase of 200 runs completing the runs chase in 17.3 against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Suryakumar Yadav and Nehal Wadhera were brilliant with the bat for the five-time champions as their outplayed the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The World No.1 T20 batter fell 17 runs short of his 1st IPL century but played with great intent to score his highest score 83(35) in the cash-rich league.
Mumbai Indians Give Themselves Good Chance Of Qualifying For The Playoffs
Mumbai Indians are coming into the groove after a poor start in the initial stage of the innings and have given themselves the best chance to qualify for the playoffs of IPL 2023 with a win emphatic win over the Bangalore side as they dominated the RCB bowling lineup throughout the innings.
The five-time champions still have big holes in the bowling lineup as they could pick up wickets in the middle overs and concede more runs toward the end of the innings. They will look to do well as a bowling unit in the forthcoming games.
Rohit Sharma-side has three games left in the league stage of IPL 2023 and a two-win out of the three games would take them closer to the playoffs spot they will take on the defending champions Gujarat Titans in the next games in Wankhede Stadium On May 12.