Mumbai Indians became the first team to qualify for the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) final after a convincing 6-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk. Tuesday’s win over CSK was the third time we’ve beaten them this season and it ensured us of our fifth appearance in the final of the competition. The road to the final in the ongoing edition though has been an emotional and action-packed rollercoaster ride with more than its fair share of memorable moments likely to last a lifetime. Here we have a look at our journey as #OneFamily to the final.

An indifferent start

After losing our opening match at home, we picked up the first win of the season against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Skipper Rohit Sharma scored a fluent 48 at the top and Hardik Pandya gave us the first glimpses of the touch he’s been in this year. He smashed 32 from 14 balls and Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets as we won the encounter by 6 runs. The next match saw us slump to our second loss of the season as Kings XI Punjab beat us in Mohali. However, Rohit and Hardik, as well as our top-scorer this year Quinton de Kock, enjoyed some quality time in the middle with the bat in hand.

Finding form

MI then went on a three-game winning streak against some of the in-form teams in the league at the time. We beat both CSK and Sunrisers Hyderabad – who were jostling for the top spot – to let the rest of the teams in the competition know that we would be strong contenders for the trophy. The win over CSK by 37 runs saw de Kock and Krunal Pandya play handy knocks, while Hardik and Kieron Pollard got a hold of a few deliveries in the slog overs to deposit them into the stands.

Our bowlers also enjoyed bowling against the reigning champions at Wankhede and almost got them all out. The best bowling performance of the season, however, came in the following match against SRH as debutant Alzarri Joseph took the league by storm. He finished with the best figures (6 for 12) by a bowler in IPL history and helped us to a dominant 40-run win over SRH. The last of our three consecutive wins came against KXIP under the leadership of stand-in skipper Pollard, who starred with a stunning 31-ball 83, which included a season-high 10 maximums in an innings. 

Important points on the road

The next six games saw us win three, out of which two of those victories came on the road. After seeing the three-match winning streak snapped by Rajasthan Royals, the boys bounced back against RCB at home. Hardik and de Kock were on song in this game once again, but Lasith Malinga – IPL’s all-time leading wicket-taker – made the headlines with a sensational spell that saw him finish with figures of 4 for 31. Our next four matches were on the road and ironically, we beat both the playoff participants in their home ground but fell short against the teams that missed out on the top-four spots.

Rahul Chahar was the star of the match when we beat Delhi Capitals at the Feroz Shah Kotla by 40 runs and also bagged three wickets in the next game which we lost against RR. The other win away from home during this run of games was against CSK in a match that witnessed Rohit get his highest score of the season (67) and Malinga finish with another four-fer. Our last away match of the league stage, meanwhile, will be remembered for IPL 2019’s fastest fifty by Hardik. The stylish all-rounder scored the half-century off 17 balls en-route to 91 from 34 balls, which included six fours as well as nine sixes.

Hitting top gear

Champion sides are renowned for finding top form at exactly the right part of a tournament and judging by how our last three games have gone, only a brave man would bet against us going all the way this year. After a super over win against SRH at the Wankhede and a dominant 9-wicket victory against KKR in the final league stage match, MI turned on the style at the home of the defending champions in Qualifier 1.

For the third time this campaign and the second time in Chepauk, CSK were quite simply outclassed by MI in all departments of the game. After restricting Chennai to 131, Mumbai chased down the target with six wickets and nine balls to spare. Chahar once again relished the prospect of bowling in Chennai and got two wickets while conceding just 14 runs. Suryakumar Yadav’s unbeaten 71 though is what made the difference on the night. The elegant right-hander put on a batting exhibition that guided us to the final and won him the Man of the Match award.