Mumbai Indians zoom to the top of IPL 2025 table after their 100-run win against Rajasthan Royals

It’s an IPL tradition that only Mumbai Indians (MI) seem to be able to pull off consistently. They start the season with tepid form, more losses than wins, and then they suddenly turn the corner. And that’s the kind of MI no team wants to face. With their thrashing of Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 100 runs on Thursday (May 1), they zoomed to the top of the IPL 2025 points table.

After winning just one game from their first five, they have now won six games consecutively. Their remaining three games are all against fellow playoff contenders: Gujarat Titans (GT), Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Delhi Capitals (DC). But with MI in their current form, even teams in the top half of the points table will be wary of facing them.

On paper, MI were a formidable team at the start of the IPL anyway, especially if you factored in that Jasprit Bumrah was soon going to be available to them. Bumrah’s return has obviously made the bowling hugely more potent, but the batting has also been in high gear. Here is a look at how well both facets have worked.

SKY-high batting

Their winning run began on April 13, with a come-from-behind victory against DC by 12 runs. Since April 13, in the list of top run-scorers in IPL 2025, there are three MI batters in the top five. Suryakumar Yadav, of course, leads the way, and quite spectacularly. But Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton have also been heavy contributors. With three of their top-order scoring runs at blazing strike rates – and in the case of Suryakumar, quite ridiculous strike rates – the MI batting juggernaut has been steamrolling bowlers.

Suryakumar has been central to MI’s resurgence while batting, but Rohit and Rickelton have been giving him fine platforms to tee off from. Of course, the top three scoring so heavily means there is not much scope for the others to put up big runs. But if you look at the strike rates, it gives you an idea of how well they have managed to hit out towards the end of the innings.

Each of Tilak Varma (154.4), Hardik Pandya (176.8) and Naman Dhir (203.2) has been striking beautifully. It’s no surprise that MI have been able to either put up totals out of the opposition’s reach or hunt down whatever target was set for them.

No bust, only ‘Boom’ while bowling

Bumrah being available has been huge for MI. The scary thing from their opponents’ point of view is that Bumrah is still not back to his absolute peak. Because his best is so good, even when he operates at a level below, it’s usually more than enough to make a difference. Since April 13, Bumrah and Trent Boult have been the joint-highest wicket-takers in the IPL.

More ominously, in the last couple of matches, Bumrah has shown signs of returning to his own best. He’s already been tough to face in third gear. What happens to opposition batters when Bumrah hits top gear?

Boult has found his wicket-taking form, which invariably means opponents lose a couple of wickets in the powerplay. And then they come up against Bumrah. Just like the batting, the bowling support act has been terrific too. Each of Karn Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner and even Will Jacks have either picked up key wickets or dried up runs.

T20 is a format that lends itself more easily to hot streaks, but the thing about MI’s current streak is that the inherent quality of players is already extremely high. They have experienced players with stellar records finding form. And they’re doing it at the business end of IPL 2025.

Right now, MI are the irresistible force of IPL 2025. To stop them, another team will have to rise as an immovable object.