Mumbai Indians have won the Indian Premier League (IPL) title a record five times, but find themselves staring down the barrel after losing seven consecutive matches in IPL 2022. In fact, Rohit Sharma's team is the first to lose its first seven matches in history of the tournament. Their latest defeat came on Thursday as MI went down to Chennai Super Kings in a last-ball thriller at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai. Following the loss, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said said the team "will be down in the dumps" after yet another loss.
"They will be down in the dumps. They are a champions team, they have won this trophy five times. So, obviously they will all be very upset," Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
The former India opener is also of the opinion that Mumbai are now out of the playoffs reckoning.
"To lose seven in a row, means that they are out of the tournament, really. With this kind of record what are they going to do in the next seven. They will have to play out of this world cricket to win the next seven. And their confident seems low."
Mumbai have a had a torrid time in IPL 2022, and their winless streak this season means that they are rock bottom of the 10-team IPL points table.
On Thursday, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan once again failed to make their mark, dismissed for ducks in the first over of the match by Mukesh Choudhary.
Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma showed some fight while Jaydev Unadkat played an unbeaten 19-run cameo to help MI post 155 for seven.
CSK, who like MI have also struggled in IPL 2022, got off to a nightmare start, losing Ruturaj Gaikwad on the first ball. However, solid knocks from Robin Uthappa and Ambati Rayudu kept CSK in the hunt.
MS Dhoni added the finishing touches while Dwaine Pretorius also made a handy contribution with the bat as CSK reached the target on the final ball of the match.