Mumbai Indians will be keeping an eye on history in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League. The first team to win the tournament three, four and five times, can now become the first team to win the IPL six times.
The five-time IPL winners have not won the title since Rohit Sharma led them to their fifth title in 2020. They won back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020 but have failed to qualify for the final since then. In 2021, they were eliminated in the league stage after finishing in fifth place. In 2022, they endured a dismal campaign and finished at the bottom of the points table.
In 2023, Mumbai Indians managed to qualify for the playoffs, but could not get past that stage. They will hope their fortunes change under new captain Hardik Pandya. The India all-rounder replaced Rohit Sharma as team captain after the latter led the IPL giants from 2013 to 2023.
And while Pandya and Rohit will play together for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024, they could face each other before that. According to a Cricbuzz report, Mumbai will play an intra-squad match on Wednesday (March 20) at the Wankhede Stadium. Pandya and Rohit could be in different teams for the game. Mumbai Indians have also invited 3,000 fans to the match.
Mumbai Indians will play an intra-team match on Wednesday at Wankhede. [Cricbuzz]
– MI has invited 3,000 fans to watch the match. pic.twitter.com/jkuPYg71ko
—Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 18, 2024
It’s business as usual for Mumbai Indians:
Looking ahead to the upcoming season, new Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has made it clear that the change in captaincy will not make any difference to the team. Speaking to the media on Monday (March 18), the former Gujarat Titans captain said that his predecessor Rohit Sharma would continue to be a leader of the team.
“It won’t be any different because he will be there to help me if I need his help,” Pandya said.
“He is the captain of the Indian team, which helps me because what this team has achieved, it has achieved under him. From now on he will try to carry out what he has achieved, so that there is nothing uncomfortable. I have played for 10 years with him and I know I will have his hand on my shoulders throughout the season,” Pandya added.
Mumbai will open their IPL 2024 campaign on March 24 against Pandya’s former team Gujarat Titans.