Three run-outs. That’s how it all changed. After being down and out in the first three weeks of the IPL, Mumbai Indians (MI) have once again made it to the play-offs. Sport is all about grabbing your opportunity and that’s what stands out in this team. Against Delhi Capitals in Delhi, it all seemed done and dusted a month ago. Vipraj Nigam was batting beautifully after a Karun Nair classic, and Mumbai were rock bottom of the league table. Jasprit Bumrah, making a comeback from injury, was hit all over the park by Karun and it seemed that there was no way back for Mumbai. They needed a spark and the first run-out provided exactly that. Two more followed and once they had that game, they had the zeal to turn things around.
That’s the thing about Mumbai. They have won it multiple times before and know how to win. Soak in the pressure and bring out their A game. Make sure that their marquee players show up on the big stage and make it count.
And in this MI story, the skipper Hardik Pandya is at the very heart of it. In 2024, Hardik Pandya was trending all through the IPL and of the two million tweets, 90 percent were abusive. Even if he made a few mistakes as captain, to see the kind of hatred spewed on him was a new low for Indian fandom.
Just like every other human being, Hardik has made many mistakes in the past. He has rushed his return post injury each time, he got himself into trouble with television shows, and had a rough ride with the selection committee in October 2021. For a 26 or 27-year-old to deal with stardom isn’t easy. Money, glamour and fame aren’t easy bedfellows and there are many who aren’t ready to deal with it all. Hardik is a classic example.
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All of a sudden, he had it all. In over the course of the last five years, he has become a multi-millionaire with millions looking up to him as a role model. He is the perfect underdog story. Rags to riches. People seek him out for autographs, want to pose for pictures with him and share the same social space with him. He is an Indian national team cricketer, who justly is one in a billion. It is a heady world, which also has its flipsides. You tend to overlook the responsibilities that come with it, you can get swept away by the gloss, and it makes you feel you can get away with it all.
In 2025, Hardik has come to terms with all of the above. He has transformed things and is now in control. He knows what it takes to win fans over, and will give it his all tonight against Gujarat Titans (GT), his former team, and Shubman Gill, his deputy from a couple of years ago.
With Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma and a truckload of experience in the change room, Hardik won’t lack for support. And that, may I say, is his biggest strength. He now has the change room with him, and while GT won’t be pushovers, to beat MI in a play-off will take some doing from Gill and his men.
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