The Mumbai Indians dominated the recently concluded IPL 2020 edition as they walked away champions for the second time in a row and won their fifth overall title. They were the first team to qualify for the playoffs and then defeated Delhi Capitals for the fourth time in the entire tournament, in the final to lift the trophy.
Akash Ambani, son of MI franchise owner and the richest man in India, Mukesh Ambani, was over the moon after MI’s title win. He was elated at seeing Michael Vaughan’s tweet saying that this MI team may even win the T20 World Cup as well, marking them as the most dominant T20 teams around.
"That was the best comment I saw the whole day. Potential world-beaters, are we? "Why not?". This was an incredible tournament, held against all odds. A special mention to the BCCI and Hon Secy Jay Shah for pulling this off,” Akash said in an interview with the Times of India.
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Mumbai Indians also broke their jinx of winning the title in only odd years, as their previous four wins had come in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019.
"Haha, yes, that 'odd' narrative was going around for a long time. That's been set right in 2020. We had set out on this task of doing it back-to-back years. To win it in an even year is such an added thrill,” Akash said.
Akash Ambani also called it MI’s best performance in the last 13 years in the Indian Premier League.
"Our record in terms of wins and losses is the same as last year. But in terms of the quality of cricket played, this season was incredible. From what our plan for the season was and what we managed to execute on the field, I'd say we were in the 95 to 98% range. This is the best we've played in 13 years," he said.
Now 29, Akash remembers his father telling him that they had bought a cricket team and growing up with the franchise over the years.
"It was in 2008, I still remember, we were playing football and my father came and said, 'we have bought a cricket team'. None of us knew what the IPL would be at that time. All I remember is that there was a glimmer of excitement around. When the team was bought, the one clear question that MI asked of itself was 'What would the city of Mumbai want? What would our supporters want? The city's history was soaked in cricket. The clear focus was to have a good team and play to the best of our ability,” Akash credited his mother Nita for shaping the culture of the franchise.
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"A good team is when we see all the parts come together and we move like the best car on the road. I would say the auction and the release list are really the toughest things to work on ahead of an IPL season. The first process of any auction is to go according to what you want to do with the squad you had last season," he points out.
He mentioned that MI got its core when Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, and Jasprit Bumrah came together from season six onwards.
“Since season six, Hardik and Krunal and Bumrah have been part of that core. We stuck to that core because continuity amongst players, we realized, was very critical. Then we tried to add players to extend this core. Surya Kumar Yadav has been there for the past three seasons. Players like Ishan Kishan and Quinton de Kock - they've all fit the proverbial puzzle very well, which as I said, had to be an extension of the core that's been in place," he added.
(Times of India inputs)
