Mumbai Indians (MI) stunned its own fans, the entire cricketing spectrum by producing a dramatic turnaround in performance to beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 10 runs in the Match No. 5 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season on Tuesday. MI already is the most successful franchise in the IPL and over the years many have tried to decode the secret behind their success in the T20 league.
On Tuesday, cricket expert Harsha Bhogle posted a tweet quoting Mumbai Indians spinner Rahul Chahar that summed up what makes the franchise a special one that continues to see players make significant forward strides in their development.
“When a bowler (Rahul Chaha’r) says my captain (Rohit Sharma) sometimes has more confidence in me than I do in myself, you understand why players grow in that team. @mipaltan”, Bhogle tweeted after the conclusion of the game.
The match looked to be going in the favour of the Knight Riders considering the way Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana were batting at the start of the run-chase. Barring the opening duo, however, none of the batsmen even managed to get into double figures. While Krunal Pandya kept things tight at one end of the pitch, it was Rahul Chahar who bamboozled the batsmen with his spin.
Chahar bagged the wickets of Rana, Gill, Rahul Tripathi as well as Eoin Morgan – the top 4 batsmen in the KKR line-up – earning himself a man of the match award at the end. Speaking a the post-match presentation ceremony, Rahul credited skipper Rohit Sharma for having faith in his abilities, especially in times where he hasn’t been in the finest of forms.
“My confidence is sometimes down, but Rohit shows confidence in me to lift me up. Mumbai Indians takes care of its players during the off-season as well, and that’s why it is such a special franchise,” he said at the presentation ceremony.
