Fair Play or Foul Play? Investigating Mumbai Indians' IPL Success

(Mumbai Indians winning their fifth IPL title in 2020)

The Indian Premier League has had several teams which have participated in the tournament over the past few years. But none of them have been close to the domination of Mumbai Indians, as they have won the IPL title five times. Also, among their domination, there have been several questions regarding their foul play moments, which has also questioned their integrity of IPL dominance. Many fans and even legendary players have put forward some allegations of unfair tactics and breaching of the game ethics, which shadow the achievements made by the team. In this blog, fans will be able to delve deeper into the investigations of Mumbai Indians’ unfair tactics with the aim of uncovering the truth behind their success in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Mumbai Indians Dominance in the IPL

Having won the Indian Premier League five times, Mumbai Indians has been one of the most successful teams in the tournament history along with Chennai Super Kings. Till 2012, Mumbai Indians had several changes in its captaincy but the team was still not able to win the IPL title. When Anil Kumble stepped in as the coach for the team, Rohit Sharma was appointed as the team's captain during the IPL 2013 season, where Mumbai Indians went off to winning their first title. They won the final match against Chennai Super Kings, their arch rivals, by 23 runs with Kieron Pollard being the Man of the Match.

Year	Standing
2008	League Stage
2009	League Stage
2010	Runners-up
2011	Playoffs
2012	Playoffs
2013	Champions
2014	Playoffs
2015	Champions
2016	League Stage
2017	Champions
2018	League Stage
2019	Champions
2020	Champions
2021	League Stage
2022	League Stage
2023	Playoffs
2024	League Stage

(Mumbai Indians in each IPL season)

Mumbai Indians have been dominant under the captainship of Rohit Sharma, who allowed the team to win the IPL title 5 times over his captaincy span from 2013 to 2023. Along with that, Rohit Sharma has also been the top run scorer for the team with 5663 runs in 216 innings with 2 centuries and 35 half-centuries. Jasprit Bumrah is the team's leading wicket-taker with 168 wickets in 136 matches at an economy of 7.31 and an average of 22.61.

Controversies Surrounding Mumbai Indians Triumphs

(Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024)

Although Mumbai Indians have been dominant across the Indian Premier League over the past few years, there have been several allegations against them by the fans and even the other teams. These allegations also reached to an extent where the fans have even started calling Mumbai Indians as the fixer team or the team which buys the umpires as their Impact Player. Here are some controversial things which took place in Mumbai Indians matches:

1. Undetected No Ball against RCB

Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore were having yet another intense clash where the latter needed 22 runs off the last two overs. Jasprit Bumrah had been sensational as always for the team, taking out the main batsmen of the RCB team. His pinpoint yorkers had been causing trouble for the RCB batsmen, which also stopped them from reaching the chase score.

At the last over, Royal Challengers Bangalore needed 17 runs and Shivam Dube was on strike for the team. He smashed a six against Lasith Malinga, which increased the hopes of the RCB fans as the team needed 7 runs of the last ball. Malinga bowled a low full toss which Shivam Dube was not able to play well, allowing Mumbai Indians to secure a six runs victory.

(Malinga’s no ball which went unnoticed by the umpires)

After the match, visuals showcased that the last delivery was a No Ball, which went unnoticed by the umpires, and cost RCB the win or could have taken the match close. Virat Kohli went furious with the umpires for their decision and even said that this is not some club level tournament where the umpires would make such mistakes even at the last ball.

2. Toss Altercations in IPL 2024

In the IPL 2024 match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Mumbai Indians got involved in a toss altercation scandal, as the coin was reportedly flipped to make the toss favour Mumbai Indians. Winning the toss gave an advantage to Mumbai Indians through which they were easily able to chase the target set by RCB.

(Faf du Plessis reciting the Toss incident to SRH Captain Pat Cummins)

This matter was not brought into much limelight during the Mumbai vs Bengaluru match, but during RCB’s next match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Faf told the SRH captain Pat Cummins regarding the incident of how the coin was flipped at the toss. The video of Faf du Plessis explaining the situation to Pat Cummins immediately went viral and it also resulted in Mumbai Indians Fixer in the trending list on Twitter.

3. DRS Even After Utilising All Reviews

Another incident related to Mumbai Indians being unfair in the game came out in the IPL 2024 season, as the team took a review even after utilising their two valid reviews. In the match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, although Mumbai Indians won by 7 wickets, there were several controversies and heated arguments which got involved in this matter.

It was during the 18th over when the RCB skipper, Faf du Plessis was at the striker's end with the score of 61 runs and Jasprit Bumrah was bowling from the other end. Bumrah bowled a wide yorker while Plessis attempted to play the shot and missed it. Ishan Kishan, the wicketkeeper, appealed for a catch but knew that the team had no reviews left.

(Mumbai Indians taking review even after no review left)

Therefore, he went to the umpire and asked for a fair catch review, which was reviewed by Nitin Menon. But when it was reviewed for a fair catch, the third umpire even checked the ultra edge to know if the ball had any contact with the bat or not. Although the review went towards Royal Challengers Bengaluru, fans and players were disappointed regarding the review taken by Mumbai Indians with no DRS left.

4. Umesh Yadav's Wicket on Wrong Review Footage

In the IPL 2018, Mumbai Indians faced Royal Challengers Bangalore where Mumbai batted first to set a target of 214 runs for the latter to chase. RCB's batting line-up struggled while chasing the target, as Virat Kohli was able to score 92 runs off 62 balls while no other batsmen were able to score even above 20 runs.

But the controversial part came when Jasprit Bumrah took the wicket of Umesh Yadav, towards the end of the innings. The bowl was caught off by Rohit Sharma and the umpire wanted to check whether it was a fair delivery or a no ball, for which it was referred to the third umpire.

(The review shown by the third umpire for Umesh Yadav’s wicket)

However, things escalated quickly as the wrong review footage was shown by the third umpire regarding the delivery of Jasprit Bumrah to Umesh Yadav. In the footage shown by the third umpire, it can be seen that Umesh Yadav was standing at the non-striker's end, and the umpire counted it as a fair delivery. This topic also quickly took over the internet as the RCB fans and players were unsatisfied with the decision.

Although this decision wouldn't have affected the match’s result, the Royal Challengers Bangalore could have been able to take the game close, which could have helped with their Net Run Rate. Various cricket analysts and commentators also gave their views on the same while some of them even said that if the decision has been given by the umpire, it can't be overturned.

5. DRS Unavailable at Wankhede Against CSK

The two IPL arch rivals, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings went against each other in the IPL 2022 match which was being played at the Wankhede Stadium. Daniel Sams was bowling to Devon Conway when he took his wicket at Conway’s very first ball. Ruturaj told Conway to take a review regarding the same and confirm whether it was out or not out.

(Conway’s wicket at which the DRS was unavailable)

The two openers of the Chennai Super Kings decided to take a review but at that time, the DRS was unfortunately unavailable at the Wankhede Stadium, with the reason being a power cut. Therefore, Devon Conway had been given no other choice rather than accepting his wicket and allow the match to continue, or else the team would have been affected due to the slow over rate.

This didn't only cost the wicket of Devon Conway, as Robin Uthappa was also given LBW by the umpire on a delivery by Jasprit Bumrah. The DRS was unavailable for the next 1.4 overs after the wicket of Devon Conway, which caused CSK to lose two of their top order batsman without being able to take the review.

(Daniel Sams celebrating his wicket against Chennai Super Kings)

This incident also sparked various controversies among cricket fans, as Chennai Super Kings ended up being all out at the score of 97, allowing Mumbai Indians to chase the same with ease. Many fans and cricket experts also gave their views on this, saying that those two reviews could have allowed CSK to take the game further.

Are Mumbai Indians Cheaters or is it a Coincidence?

The above incidents could be named as mere coincidences which took place in the Mumbai Indians matches. But such incidents taking place in the favour of Mumbai Indians all the time could definitely not be a coincidence. There are several other incidents where the allegations of cheating and fixing have been put forward to the team. However, the main question among the IPL fans still persists whether Mumbai Indians are cheaters or whether the incidents mentioned above have been just mere coincidences.