It’s okay. You are allowed to be sad today. No pressure. You can sulk.

We’d seen dreams of an El Clasico. We’d seen dreams of Ahmedabad getting painted in Blue and Gold. We’d seen dreams of a #6. Alas, Shubman Gill, in that mood, was just too good to handle. And his knock, destructive. We tried, we fought. “Obviously disappointed with today”, was how coach Mark Boucher summed proceedings up.

It might be too early to move on, but in a couple of days, when you can afford to smile, look back at this season with a lot of pride. This Mumbai Indians batch of 2023 is indeed special. From the resurgence of Piyush Chawla who turned the clock back to make all of us feel young, to Akash Madhwal showing us just why engineers are better off following their passion, to young Tilak Varma breaking door after door, to our pocket dymanite Ishan Kishan smoking them around in powerplays, to Tim David officially taking over the finisher’s mantle from the Llord, to of course, aapla Surya dada extending that purple patch of his into territories even the game might never have seen.

All this while our very own Rohit Sharma was his usual shrewd self, marshalling the troops expertly and milking the best out of the youngsters.

We’ve chased down 200+ totals on four occasions (an IPL record). Surya has the best strike-rate among batters this season. MI smashed the most runs in the powerplay among all teams. Madhwal’s 5/5 remains the best figures by an uncapped Indian bowler. Remember, we were without our pack leader in Jasprit Bumrah. His calm, collected self at one end with the ball, and at the other with his mentorship towards the younger bowlers, wasn’t a luxury we had this time around. Add to it the injury troubles that plagued Jofra Archer for a majority of the season.

This team has done us proud. We gave it our all. We really did. We’ve left everything out there on the ground. And when history looks back at MI’s IPL 2023 campaign, it’s going to be a story of fighters, fighting against the odds, against the punters. Through all of this, we cannot thank you, the Paltan enough. You’ve – simultaneously – been our rock, our safe space, and the wind beneath our wings. #OurDesignated12thMan.

This is MI home. This is MI team. This is MI family. We are Mumbai Indians.