One of the big questions for Mumbai Indians' batting line-up in the last couple of years was how they would fill the massive hole in the middle order left vacant by Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard. Hardik moved on to another franchise in the mega auction before 2022 and Pollard retired from the IPL recently, giving Mumbai a headache that couldn't be cured overnight.
Somehow, in their second IPL season without Hardik and in their first without Pollard, Mumbai have assembled a batting line-up that just mowed down its third consecutive total of 200 or more while chasing, that too without any major contributions from Rohit Sharma.
Rohit's last five scores have been in single digits, and in those three 200-plus chases, he managed only 7, 0 and 3. Yet, Mumbai have raced to 62, 50 and 65 in the powerplay of those games, largely thanks to Ishan Kishan, who has blasted 42 off 21 and 75 off 41 in the last few days. Kishan is not just picking those boundaries; he is also finding that rhythm again as a clean six-hitter that had made him a mainstay at the top of Mumbai's batting order.
On Tuesday too, against RCB, Kishan took charge of the 200 chase with back-to-back sixes in the third over against Mohammed Siraj, one of the best powerplay bowlers this season. Nor did he spare Josh Hazlewood and Wanindu Hasaranga, striking at at least 250 against each of them.
Mumbai have also been rewarded for their bold decisions. At two down in the powerplay, after Rohit and Kishan fell in the fifth over, they sent out Nehal Wadhera, who was playing only his sixth T20 innings, instead of Cameron Green, and in the absence of the injured Tilak Varma. Against Chennai Super Kings three days ago, Wadhera struck his maiden T20 half-century by taking on the international names of Ravindra Jadeja, Moeen Ali and Maheesh Theekshana, while none of his team-mates could score 30.
Against RCB, the task was stiffer because the openers had just walked back with the score at 52 for 2 in a big chase. Wadhera, 22, didn't seem perturbed by that, and he decided he was not going to merely play second fiddle to his senior partner, Suryakumar Yadav, and be content with giving him the strike for the heavy lifting. And nobody would have blamed Wadhera had he done that. Nor was he scared of taking risks in the powerplay by pulling a short ball for six despite there being a deep midwicket at the boundary. In fact, he nearly matched Suryakumar stroke for stroke in the century partnership before the latter took off for his fifty.
When Suryakumar pulled Harshal Patel for four - with the help of a misfield from Virat Kohli in the deep - to start the seventh over, Wadhera drilled a cover drive two balls later for a four of his own. When Suryakumar dispatched Wanindu Hasaranga beyond midwicket for six in the 11th over, Wadhera slog-swept the same bowler two balls later for six to put a dent in the car on display beyond the boundary. If Suryakumar was striking at 156.25 at that time, Wadhera was blazing with as much fire at 157.14. Two overs later, when their partnership had swollen to 89 off just 48 balls, they had brought the equation down to a very gettable 59 off 42, and Tim David and Green were yet to bat.
David had blasted three consecutive sixes in the final over of the chase to stun Rajasthan Royals barely ten days ago. He has been striking at nearly 166 this IPL and has struck the most sixes in T20s since 2022. All that only adds to the brutality of Mumbai's lower middle order and its finishing qualities.
For acquiring David and Green, two established global names in the T20 format, Mumbai still had to break the bank and spend over INR 25.75 crore (USD 3.1 million approx.) over the last two auctions. In unearthing the talent of Wadhera, handing him a T20 debut this IPL after he had played just five first-class matches, and buying him for his base price of INR 20 lakh, Mumbai have again shown the pricelessness of their scouts.
Their batting might has taken shape so well towards the end of the league stage that they scripted the fastest chase of 200 or more in the IPL, and the second-fastest overall in T20s. Their last three successful chases - 200, 216, and 214 - rank among the best chases in the IPL ever, and they also hold the record for the most 200-plus chases in a single T20 season.
Since no total is safe in front of them, it makes Mumbai arguably the most feared batting line-up in the IPL currently, and it's possible they may even want that "arguably" taken out soon.