What’s an Indian Premier League season without it’s thrilling matches and at least a few comebacks. It may be players who shine in the final few games after failing to perform earlier, or teams that manage to reach the play-offs after getting off to a terrible start.
And one franchise that definitely knows a thing or two about turning their fortune around 360 degrees is Mumbai Indians. They’re the franchise with the most number of Indian Premier League titles, but they’re also the team with the most drastic comebacks.
Here’s a look at five times franchise’s managed to reach the play-offs after playing poorly in the group stage.
Mumbai Indians’ Title Win in 2015
One of the favourite stories for all Mumbai Indians fans to tell is the team’s massive turnaround in the 2015 season.
The Rohit Sharma-led franchise had started the season with four back-to-back losses. Their first win that season came on 19 April, when Mumbai defended their total of 209/7 against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Bengaluru. But in the next match, the team once again slumped to a loss against Delhi Daredevils. With five losses in their first six games, there seemed to be no chance that MI would make play-offs.
However, the team mentored by Sachin Tendulkar went on to win seven of their remaining eight group stage games, and qualified for the knockout stages with 16 points.
Mumbai then defeated Chennai Super Kings first by 25 runs in Qualifier 1 and 41 runs in the final, to win their second IPL title.
Do-or-Die CSK
Chennai Super Kings have made it to the play-offs in all eight seasons that they’ve played, and have even won the title on two occasions.
In 2010 – when they won their maiden IPL title – Chennai had started the season with five losses in their first seven games. However, the MS Dhoni-led franchise went on to win the next three games on a trot before losing to Deccan Chargers. A win against KKR and a loss to Delhi Daredevils, and CSK had set up a do-or-die match against Kings XI Punjab. MS Dhoni’s half-century won CSK that match and sent them into the semi-finals where Chennai beat Deccan Chargers by 38 runs.
And in their final against Mumbai Indians, it was the bowlers who helped CSK defend a total of 168 and hand them their first-ever IPL title.
2014: 5 Losses in 5 Games, But MI Still Made Play-Offs
Five losses on the trot, and the only expectation anyone had from Mumbai Indians in IPL 7 was a bottom-place finish.
Registering three wins in their next five games, the Rohit Sharma-led franchise was second from the bottom with six points, having slumped to seven losses in their first 10 games.
They might have been down, but were not out yet. The ‘MI Paltan’ won their next four games and managed to make play-offs with a better run-rate than Rajasthan Royals, who too had 14 points at the end of the group stage.
Mumbai, however, could not continue their win streak in the knockout stage, losing to Chennai Super Kings by seven wickets in the eliminator.
2010: Resurgent Deccan Charges
After just three wins and five straight losses, Deccan Chargers were anything but favourites to make the play-offs in the 2010 edition of the IPL.
But the Adam Gilchrist-led franchise managed to register five straight wins in their last five group stage games, and qualified for the play-offs with 16 points.
In the semi-final though, the team was bowled out by CSK for 104, with none of their batsman managing to score even 25 individual scores.
Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2016
While Royal Challengers Bangalore has always boasted of star cricketers like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, the franchise has never really managed to make a mark in the IPL, lest win a title.
But the 2016 season saw the franchise make a comeback to reach the play-offs after starting in an unimpressive fashion. After registering five losses in the first seven games, Kohli’s RCB managed to win six of their next seven matches. The franchise qualified for play-offs with 16 points, and even won the Qualifier 1 against Gujarat Lions.
But despite Chris Gayle’s 76 and Kohli’s 54, Royal Challengers Bangalore failed to chase Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 208/7 and lost the final by just eight runs.
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