Mumbai Indians lost all five games that were played in the UAE in IPL 2014 and they somehow managed to reach the eliminator after their dramatic win against Rajasthan Royals in their last league game.
Mumbai Indians arrive in IPL 2020 as the four-time champions. The tournament will be played entirely in the UAE due to the coronavirus situation in India. Rohit Sharma and his side are confident that they can overcome their ‘odd’ weakness and win the title in an even year. However, the Mumbai Indians will be desperate to break their duck in the UAE. In 2014, the IPL campaign was held in two halves due to the General Elections. The first half was in the UAE and it was a total nightmare for the Mumbai Indians. In the second half which was held in India, they somehow managed to reach the knockouts but it was dramatic.
The situation confronting Rohit Sharma and the Mumbai Indians in 2020 is similar to their campaign in IPL 2014. Mumbai Indians had won their first title in 2013 and arrived in the UAE as one of the favorites. However, it all started to go horribly wrong for Mumbai Indians in 2014.
In their first match, they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by 41 runs in Abu Dhabi. In their next two games against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings in Dubai, they lost by seven wickets. Their misery was compounded even further when they lost to the Delhi Daredevils by six wickets in Sharjah and to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 15 runs in Abu Dhabi. After the end of the UAE campaign, Mumbai Indians had lost five straight games.
Woeful in the UAE
In their campaign in the UAE, the batting and the bowling failed to contribute as a consistent unit. Ambati Rayudu was the top-scorer in the first two games while only Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard hit fifties in the five games.
In the bowling, Lasith Malinga performed brilliantly in the first game but in the next four games, he was expensive. Zaheer Khan looked good but he did not get any support. The rest of the bowling suffered on the slow, low wickets and Mumbai Indians were in danger of getting eliminated before the knockouts.
When Mumbai Indians reached their Wankhede fortress in May, their fortunes turned as they started winning. Batsmen started hitting fifties on a regular basis, with Lendl Simmons going on to hit a century against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali. It all boiled down to the shootout against Rajasthan Royals.
Mumbai Indians needed to chase 190 in 14.3 overs to seal a spot in the playoffs. However, Mumbai Indians reached 189/5 in 14.3 overs thanks to Corey Anderson’s brilliant 95 off 44 balls. With the scores level, Mumbai Indians needed to hit a boundary off the next ball to enter the knockouts. Aditya Tare launched James Faulkner for a six to fine leg and Rajasthan Royals were eliminated in a cruel manner.
Lessons from 2014
Rohit Sharma and the Mumbai Indians team will have keenly learnt the lessons of 2014. They have good depth in batting but in their bowling, they have a slight problem with Lasith Malinga absent for the whole tournament due to personal reasons. Their batting looks in top shape, but they will have to adapt in the slow and low conditions quickly. All the Indian cricketers have not played any form of cricket since March and this could level the playing field slightly. Consistent top order batting and all-round bowling is the only thing that can help Mumbai Indians from avoiding a repeat of their 2014 nightmares in the UAE.
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 "Rohit Sharma IPL 2020")
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