Mumbai Indians are in strong contention to finish the league stage in No.1 position
Mumbai Indians have had a rough few years in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They finished bottom of the table in two of the last three seasons. Last year, the captaincy change from Rohit Sharma to Hardik Pandya combined with poor form across all departments saw them finish rock bottom.
Things didn’t look good during the IPL 2025 as they lost four of their first five matches. However, Pandya’s men handed an undefeated Delhi Capitals their first defeat of the season which also turned to be the turning point of their campaign.
The five-time champions went on to win six on the trot and are top of the points table. Despite their rampaging form, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar doesn’t think MI are title favorites yet.
He picked Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) led by Rajat Patidar to end their 18-year trophy drought this year.
“Royal Challengers Bengaluru. They’ve batted well and fielded superbly too. Mumbai Indians are close, but they’ve only just started their surge. The question is whether they can maintain it, as they have three tough matches coming up against top teams. How they carry that momentum will be key. But yes, RCB are definitely the title favourites,” said during a chat with India Today.
RCB has managed to win seven of their 10 games with all of their three losses coming at home at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. However, they have found match-winners across the board during the course of the season – Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Tim David and Krunal Pandya.
While maintaining their 100% win record in away games in IPL 2025, they also broke their home curse with a thrilling 11-run victory against Rajasthan Royals thanks to brilliant death bowling by Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood.
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Two more remarkable things about RCB’s campaign were the wins at the Chepauk and Wankhede against Chennai Super Kings and MI respectively. They managed to beat CSK in their own backyard after a gap of 17 years while their win at MI’s fortress was 15 years in the making.
RCB can go top of the table if they beat CSK at home on Saturday.
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