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Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) thumping win over the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 10 wickets meant that Mumbai Indians (MI) became the first team to be eliminated from the race to the IPL 2024 playoffs. They can only get to a maximum of 12 points, which certainly won't be enough to finish in the top four.
For a team that on paper had been touted to be one of the favorites to not just qualify but also win the tournament, it has been a downfall of epic proportions. The change of guard in the captaincy certainly created a lot of external noise and they seem to have affected MI's on-field performances.
Despite eight defeats in 12 matches, the net run rate of -0.212 suggests that Mumbai Indians suffered some very close losses which, if had gone the other way, they would have been in contention for the playoffs.
On that note, let's take a look at three defeats that MI would regret after crashing out of IPL 2024:
#3 DC vs MI - DC won by 10 runs
Losing five out of their eight games, Mumbai Indians faced the Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The visitors had already beaten the hosts in the reverse fixture and a win again could have begun the upward curve for Hardik Pandya and his men.
However, Jake Fraser-McGurk's blazing 84 off 27 was the showstopper in Delhi's mammoth total of 257/4. Cameos from Tilak Varma (63), Hardik Pandya (46) & Tim David (37) brought MI really close to DC's total, finishing on 247/9.
Mumbai Indians lost three wickets in their powerplay and mustered 65 runs, proving to be the difference in the end. They would have regretted not getting off to a flyer because had it been the case, they almost certainly would have achieved the record chase.
#2 MI vs KKR - KKR won by 24 runs
Mumbai Indians had a proud record of having not lost against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede Stadium since 2012. The record seemed like remaining intact when they had the visitors reeling at 57/5. However, some questionable bowling changes and the lack of urge to go for the kill allowed KKR to come back into the game and post 169.
The target of 170 isn't one that generally would be challenging at the Wankhede, given the dew factor and the ground dimensions. However, there was just enough grip in the surface and it was coupled with some appalling shot selection by the MI batting line-up.
A combination of letting loose with the ball and horrific game awareness with the bat left MI 24 runs short in the end. They chased down 173 against the SunRisers from a similar situation and that win would have had them regret their loss against Kolkata even more.
#1 GT vs MI - GT won by six runs
Hardik Pandya's first assignment as Mumbai Indians captain was a trip back to his old franchise in Gujarat Titans (GT) and the crowd made their emotions clear by their booing throughout the game.
MI hadn't won an opening game of any IPL edition since 2012 and Hardik had a golden opportunity to end the streak, get fans on his side and also avenge the booing. With 62 runs needed from 48 balls and eight wickets in hand, it all seemed under control.
However, then started the batting collapse that perhaps was to define MI's season in a nutshell. The visitors shockingly lost their way so bad that they ended up with 162/9. The lack of game awareness both by the batters and the think tank was a sign of what was to come.
