Playing as a unit. That was one binding thread which helped Mumbai Indians emerge triumphant in the Indian Premier League, against all odds. Most had thought that Mumbai Indians were down and out of the season, after their string of four losses at the start of the tournament; and then had just two points, after six games. But, the MI change room continued to believe in itself and turned things around, to win nine of the next 10 games and finally lift the IPL trophy, for the second time.

mumbaiindians.com takes a look at the stars who anchored the riveting reversal:

The opening act
Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel opened the innings in 13 matches, adding 619 runs for the opening partnership. Before they started walking out together at the top of the order, MI were plagued with losing too many wickets in the Powerplay. Not only did Simmons and Parthiv see off the first six overs but, most often than not, the duo continued to torment the opposition bowling attack. It was underlined in the numbers. While Parthiv tallied close to 350 runs, Simmons ended as the joint-highest run-getter of the tournament, with 540 runs. And, their opening act included two fifty and two hundred-run, partnerships.

Middle muscle
Corey Anderson started well but got injured. Still, the Mumbai Indians middle order boasted of some of the biggest hitters in the game, including Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Ambati Rayudu and newbie Hardik Pandya. And the troika fired so consistently that the Mumbai Indians ended up scoring the most runs in the last five overs, among all the teams in IPL-2015. While Rohit tallied 482 runs, Pollard finished with 419. Rayudu chipped in with 281, while Pandya impressed with his two, two Man of the Match-winning cameos. With such a deadly middle order, the Mumbai Indians managed to strike lethal blows consistently all through the tournament.

Spin twins
Ever since the first game, Harbhajan Singh was bowling as well as he has ever done in the previous seven editions of the game. Rookie J Suchith provided him the perfect support by picking wickets at crucial junctures and keeping things tight in the middle overs. That helped Harbhajan bounce back stronger after going wicketless in three matches after picking eight in the first four. And, by the end of the tournament, Harbhajan finished as the joint sixth wicket-taker while, Suchith also reached the double digits.

Pace is ace
Lasith Malinga wasn’t as accurate as he has ever been at the start of the tournament. But Mitchell McClenaghan, who got a look in, due to Corey Anderson’s injury, breathed a fresh air into MI pace attack. With McClenaghan emerging as the wrecker-in-chief, Malinga also regained his full steam midway through the tournament, and by the end, he was at the peak of his form. The fact that the duo shared 42 scalps between then, with Malinga being the leading bowler with 24 wickets, helped MI pull the plug on the opposition batsmen easily. Vinay Kumar, the new addition to the MI squad ahead of the season, proved his utility by playing a perfect support role to the deadly duo.

Men in charge
Rohit Sharma has been a proven performer, both as a batsman and as a captain. And he couldn’t have asked for a better support staff than a brigade of experienced performers in international cricket. With Ricky Ponting being the head coach; Robin Singh, Jonty Rhodes and Shane Bond being his assistants in each of the three departments; Sachin Tendulkar as an icon; Anil Kumble as a member of the owner’s group; Rahul Sanghvi as the team manager, and Paras Mhambrey and John Wright involved in talent scouting. With such an able support staff, there was no shortage of the MI preparing to the best of their abilities ahead of every game, and once the results started going their way, they were unstoppable.