As the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 getting closer day by day, the excitement is heating up among the all 10 franchise fans ahead of the opening match of the IPL 2024 between the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on the 22nd of March. Today though in this article, we will have a throwback to the IPL 2013 Final between CSK and Mumbai Indians, where the latter won their first ever IPL Trophy.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians is no doubt one of the best teams ever to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the greatest T20 cricket league in the world. But, it wasn’t a smooth sailing start for the Mumbai side in the IPL. From the start, the team was struggling in the competition until they made a young Rohit Sharma their leader.
And 2013 brought in a new revolution. Under a young Rohit Sharma then, Mumbai Indians won their first ever IPL Trophy, beating the record champions Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2013 Final. Since then, the team has been a dominant force and 5 titles in the IPL so far under Sharma’s captaincy. But, that 2013 IPL Final would forever be known as the revolution for Mumbai Indians. In this article, we take a look at the Mumbai Indians playing XI from the IPL 2013 Final and where are they now.
Openers: Dwayne Smith and Aditya Tare
Dwayne Smith and Aditya Tare opened the inning for MI in the final, however both the openers failed. Smith scored 4 runs while Tare recorded a golden duck. Smith, at 40, has retired from cricket, but features in the Legends League Cricket occasionally, playing for the Urbanrisers Hyderabad in 2023 edition, while Tare still plays for Uttarakhand in the domestic cricket. He joined Uttarakhand from Mumbai in 2022.
Middle-order: Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu
Then was the time when Rohit Sharma use to play as a middle-order batter and he was accompanied by Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu in the middle-order in the final. Karthik nowadays plays for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the IPL and will feature in 2024 edition for the same team. He also does occasionally commentary gig for the Sky Sports. Ambati Rayudu announced his retirement from IPL in 2023, after winning the IPL 2023 with CSK. He recently featured for the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2023 and for the Texas Super Kings in the Major League Cricket (MLC). Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma is still a part of the team, but has been removed from captaincy duty for IPL 2024 after the team brought Hardik Pandya back into the team.
All-Rounders: Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, Rishi Dhawan
Kieron Pollard was the hero for Mumbai on the night. He scored 60 runs of 32 balls and took a wicket with the ball. Pollard has retired from IPL and is the batting coach of Mumbai Indians, but continues to play franchise T20 leagues around the world, featuring in SA20, ILT20, PSL etc. Harbhajan Singh, the former Indian spinner has also retired and often seen doing commentary gigs. Rishi Dhawan meanwhile will be with the Punjab Kings for 2024 edition after joining them in 2022. He also plays domestic cricket for Himachal Pradesh.
Bowlers: Mitchell Johnson, Lasith Malinga, Pragyan Ojha
All 3 of the bowlers mentioned have retired from the game. Mitchell Johnson occasionally features as a commentator in Australian television, while Lasith Malinga has joined Mumbai Indians as the bowling coach from Rajasthan Royals ahead of IPL 2024. Pragyan Ojha meanwhile is currently away from cricket and occasionally does commentary and have been a part of the BCCI.
