Mumbai Indians brought back an 11-year-old strategy in the final league match against Rajasthan Royals Cricket News

Mumbai Indians (Image credit: BCCI/IPL)

Mumbai Mumbai Indians tried a different strategy in their last league stage match against Rajasthan Royals On Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, with Hardik Pandya Introducing a maximum of three overs of spin within the Powerplay.This is only the second instance in IPL 2026 where MI have opted for this unusual strategy of using three spin overs in the first six overs.Will Jacks was introduced at the start of the second over and was brought in again in the fourth over, before Allah Ghazanfar was given the sixth over as MI doubled up on spin in the powerplay phase.Interestingly, Mumbai Indians adopted a similar approach earlier in the season against Lucknow Supergiants on 4 May.It was also the first time in MI’s 11-year IPL history that they used three overs of spin in the powerplay, marking a rare tactical change at Wankhede.MI’s rare use of powerplay spin in IPL historyMI have only bowled three or more overspins in the powerplay on a few occasions:

Overall, it was the 18th instance in MI’s IPL history of using three or more spin overs in the first six overs, and only the second in an impact player’s tenure.Five-time champions, but mixed recent fortunesMumbai Indians is one of the most successful franchises in IPL history, having won five titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020 – all under the leadership of Rohit Sharma.However, their IPL 2026 campaign has been inconsistent, with several close losses affecting their momentum.