Mumbai Indians’ Record In Opening Match: The five-time champions Mumbai Indians are infamous for their slow starts – and by this, we mean that the Ambani-owned franchise tends to lose one or two games at the start of their campaign before they pick it up. In fact, Mumbai Indians have often lost more matches in the first half of the league stage than they do in the second half.
This generally happens as players shake off the rust and the previously Rohit Sharma-led unit takes time to settle on their best playing XI and combinations.
However, once they get settled in, they become the team to beat, as showcased by their five IPL championship wins from 2013 to 2020. MI had a couple of disappointing seasons after that, but bounced back last year to come one victory away from the final, even while missing Jasprit Bumrah for the entire season, and partially missing Jofra Archer and Suryakumar Yadav.
This time, now led by new skipper Hardik Pandya, MI will start their campaign against Hardik’s previous team, Gujarat Titans, in Ahmedabad.
So what is Mumbai Indians’ record in opening match in IPL in last 11 years?
Mumbai Indians have lost all their opening matches in the last 11 seasons. This is an astounding record for a franchise that has won five IPL trophies in this period.
The MI management, ownership and fans would be hoping that this streak of 11 losses in their first match of the season gets broken under new captain, Hardik Pandya.
Hardik, who is set to return to action after an ankle injury, said that he will be bowling.
“Yes, I will be bowling,” Hardik said at a pre-season press conference in Mumbai on Monday. “My injury in [the] World Cup was a freak injury. It had nothing to do with my past injuries, it had nothing to do with my fitness. When I got fit, the Afghanistan [T20I] series had just started [in January]. I’ve been fit since then, but there were no games to play.”
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