Aditya Tare knows a thing or two about taking Mumbai Indians over the line. In 2014, he hit a famous six against Rajasthan Royals to help us qualify for the playoffs on the basis of a superior net run-rate. We didn’t go all the way that year but in the following season, we fought back like warriors to go from the bottom of the table to title winners.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference in Indore on Thursday, the eve of our clash against Kings XI Punjab, Tare spoke at length about MI’s famed fighting spirit. And, he made it clear that the boys firmly believe they can achieve the unthinkable. He urged at least one player to rise to the occasion in each of our six remaining games.

“I don’t think we were in this kind of a situation last year. We played well and won the trophy. In 2015, we were in a bad situation like we are now. And we won the trophy then as well. This year, most of the results haven’t gone in our favour. One thing I can say is that we have a very good team with players full of confidence. Each and every player in the squad can deliver a match-winning performance. We will try to do the same. We need to win all our remaining games. If at least one player rises to the occasion in each match, we’ll be good,” he said.

Tare attributed MI’s record this season — two wins in eight matches — to the dynamic nature of the format. He said the team was aware of the task at hand but there was no point of looking so far ahead. Instead, the pertinent thing would be to focus on one game at a time.

“It’s T20. Every team is strong and the strongest of teams can lose sometimes. The format of the game is such that the result depends on how you play on that particular day. If you falter in one aspect of the game, you are most likely to end up on the losing side. You can’t really say what went wrong. It is difficult to analyse at the moment. We’ve been in this situation before and we have bounced back. That gives us some confidence going into this phase of the tournament. Obviously, we are a very good side. There is no denying that. The results haven’t gone our way. So, all we need to do is to take it one game at a time. We have six games to go. All we can do is focus on the next one,” Tare added.

Tare said the team derived confidence from past records. “This franchise has been in this situation before. Not once, but twice. That does give us some confidence. But every season is different. We cannot say that we have done in the past and we’ll do it again. We’ll try our best. And, if it goes well, I think it will be great for us going forward,” he said.

Asked about Evin Lewis, who missed our previous match against Royal Challengers Bangalore due to injury, Tare said, “Well, I’m not too sure about it but, hopefully, he’s recovered. He took an injection, I believe, and should take two days (to recover). I think he should be fine. I feel he’ll be fine for the game.”

Tare was also asked about the team combination. Should we go with Mustafizur Rahman or Ben Cutting? “Well, we will take a call after looking at the pitch tomorrow. Both are good professional foreign players. Both have done well in the Vivo IPL. So, I think the team management will decide who takes the field depending on the conditions. Cutting is an all-rounder whereas Mustafizur is an out-and-out bowler. So, that’s the difference. We cannot compare them,” he explained.

Tare said it would not to be fair to simply focus on Chris Gayle. “The entire KIngs XI Punjab team is playing good cricket. All their batsmen are as dangerous as Gayle. If we just focus on Gayle, then someone else will run away with a big score. We need to focus on their entire batting unit. Our bowlers are capable of stopping the best of the batsmen. We will try to do the same thing tomorrow. We need to get them out as quickly as possible,” he said.