HABIBI, MEET THE ILT20 2024 CHAMPIONS – MI EMIRATES

Habibi, it’s coming home! It’s title #10 in the Mumbai Indians #OneFamily! Our Blue is all set to get more Gold. The jinx of Dubai, the jinx of the Dubai Capitals who won both their league games against us, we’ve broken it all. Say it aloud, MI EMIRATES ARE THE ILT20 CHAMPIONS. Start the party. Start the celebrations.

CLT20 2011. IPL 2013. CLT20 2013. IPL 2015. IPL 2017. IPL 2019. IPL 2020. WPL 2023. MLC 2023. ILT20 2024.

Another final of the Pooran madness in Blue and Gold. It’s not even been a year and we hadn’t come out of his exploits in the MLC for MI New York, and he’s brought that monster form on the big night, completely grabbing the game by its neck and lifting the total to a point where it was safely out of the reach of the Capitals. There’s really something about this iconic jersey of ours that brings out the best in the players. Let’s read what they said after scripting history in Dubai.

Robin Singh | MI Emirates Head Coach: Feel a sense of relief. We wanted to win this tournament. We have a lot of players from last year, and people like Mahela and the whole back end team put things together brilliantly. Pooran led very well, led us instinctively at times. I’ve been around with the UAE players, and this format playing with International cricketers will be very helpful for the local players to understand what it takes to succeed at this level.

Trent Boult: A big stage and the boys delivered. Everyone dreams of playing in big finals, happy to win. I have enjoyed myself, the wickets are always a challenge. The biggest challenge was moving between venues, but always great to play in a Mumbai shirt. I think this was the best wicket in the tournament, it got better in the second innings. We spoke hard about what it would be like to bowl second, and the spinners delivered for us once again. It was a great total we got, gave us a lot of runs to play with and 200 in a final is always challenging.

Kieron Pollard: We came third last year, and this time we wanted to go all the way. We played as favourites and to get through means a lot for me, and the franchise. The guys will be under pressure next year, but we try and build a winning culture in the MI family. The way the guys batted, batting them out of the game in a final was brilliant. (On the fielding) It felt like we had a trampoline in our hands, everything was bouncing out. But fortunately, didn’t cost us tonight. (On Pooran) He has done it brilliantly, he continues to grow as a cricketer and a leader. Long may that continue.

R Vinaykumar | MI Emirates Assistant Coach: Great feeling. The efforts from teh boys was outstanding. First time we scored 200 in this tournament, and the way the bowlers bowled was unbelievable. We treated this as any other game, and wanted to give our best. All about giving that 1% extra, thats what captain Pooran mentioned in the team meeting. This trophy is special, first one in my coaching career.

Akeal Hosein: The senior guys showed me how to win. I think Fletcher stuck it out, and exploded in the end and the skipper took it on his shoulder to get us a big total.

Dwayne Bravo: We needed this, it was a very important tournament for all of us. The leadership of Nicholas Pooran was brilliant, he deserved it. This is special, the first time in this tournament. In the team meeting we kept focusing on being champions. Feels good to be a champion again.