IPL 2025: Can Mumbai Indians script a 2015-like comeback to win the 6th title?

The five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians are enduring a disappointing season in the ongoing edition of the tournament. After having a disastrous campaign in the previous IPL season, where they finished at the bottom of the points, MI were hoping to turn their table around to win  a sixth IPL triumph. 

However, things have not gone as planned for Mumbai Indians as the road to the playoffs look steep due to inconsistent performances and injuries to key players. They are currently sitting at the eight spot on the IPL 2025 points with a win and four losses while accumulating just two points and have a NNR of -0.010. MI’s opening match against Chennai Super Kings was led by Suryakumar Yadav as Hardik Pandya was serving a one-match ban from IPL 2024 due to excessive over-rate offences. 

Despite Hardik Pandya returning as a skipper, Mumbai Indians’ fortunes did not change as they won only one match in the next three outings. Their only victory of the same came against Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium. MI’s star pacer Jasprit Bumrah made his return for the clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, but did not make the desired impact as the side fell short once again in their 222-run chase.

Mumbai Indians are currently below the IPL 2025 points, where they need to win at least seven of their remaining 10 matches in order to stay in contention for the playoffs. If they win seven of their remaining matches, Net Run Rate (NRR) will come into play and could be the deciding factor in a mid-table table. The five-time IPL champions need to take herculean effort to not only to string consistent wins but also dominate their remaining matches in order to boost the NRR. MI can take inspiration from their own 2015 campaign, which was considered as one of the greatest ever comebacks.

Mumbai Indians were considered as one of the favourites to win their 2nd IPL title after failing to defend their maiden triumph in the previous season, where they were knocked out by Chennai Super Kings in the Eliminator. However, MI had a disastrous start to their campaign as they lost four matches in their five outings and they were at the bottom of the points table early in the season and it looked like the playoffs chances looked slim, given that they needed to win almost all their remaining games to stay in the hunt. Mumbai Indians were already written after the first half of the 2015 IPL season.

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Mumbai Indians defied all the odds and mathematics to script one of the greatest ever comebacks in the history of IPL. After winning just one match in their five outings, MI managed to turn their tables around by winning seven matches in the next nine matches and secured their spot for the playoffs by finishing second in the league stage with 8 wins and 6 losses while accumulating 16 points. In the Qualifier 1, Mumbai Indians defeated Chennai Super Kings to secure their berth in the final, where they defeated two-time IPL champions CSK to lift their 2nd trophy of the season. Under the dynamic leadership of Rohit Sharma and pivotal contributions by Lendl Simons, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, and Ambati Rayudu, Mumbai Indians managed to pull off a brilliant comeback to take home the trophy.

Looking at the current situation, it is quite difficult to say whether Mumbai Indians can make a comeback to make it into top 4 and qualify for the playoffs. However, the Hardik Pandya-led side can pull off a turnaround if they regroup their troops just like how the Mumbai Indians of 2015 - backing their experienced core, trusting their bench strength and delivering under pressure in crunch moments to build momentum at the right time. The forms of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Chahar, Tilak Varma, and Trent Boult are crucial not only for Mumbai Indians’ chances to qualify for the playoffs but also emulate the 2015 spirit of resilience, where individual brilliance combined with team unity to spark an unforgettable campaign.

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After losing four matches in their five outings, Mumbai Indians need to change their strategy for the remaining season and bring up a fresh winning formula that would help them get back to winning ways, with continued consistency in all departments, including batting, fielding, and bowling. If Rohit Sharma returns to form, and Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, and Suryakumar Yadav maintain their consistency, and Jasprit Bumrah gets back into his rhythm, Mumbai Indians can still emerge as strong contenders for the playoffs. With the right momentum and winning formula in place, MI could well script another fairytale comeback and chase their 6th IPL crown, just like how they did in 2015.