IPL Slow Starters: Last time a team lost opening four or more Indian Premier League matches in a row

Mumbai Indians have started 2022 campaign similar to 2014 season

Bengaluru, April 14: The most successful teams in Indian Premier League - five-time champions Mumbai Indians and four-time winners Chennai Super Kings have started poorly in IPL 2022.

While Rohit Sharma-led MI has suffered back-to-back five defeats, Ravindra Jadeja's reign as captain of CSK also started on a sour note, but the defending champions stopped the slide with a victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Despite the win, CSK's chances of qualifying for play-offs is not guaranteed as they will need to win a minimum of 7 matches of their remaining 9. MI, meanwhile, will have their task cut out as they will need to win almost all their remaining matches to progress.

The two multi-time champions may be at the wrong end of the table after the first five matches of the season, but there are instances when a team that lost their opening games to take the tag of IPL slow starters, but still managed to reach the play-offs.

And MI will be no strangers to that as they have had a similar start in earlier seasons as well. Mumbai Indians are not the only team to have lost their opening 4 or more matches in previous seasons. Can MI and CSK still qualify for the play-offs?

Here we take a look at where teams finished after poor starts to their campaigns in IPL:

Deccan Chargers (2012)

The 2009 champions and now defunct Deccan Chargers opened the 2012 season with five back-to-back defeats. Chargers won just 4 of their 16 matches with 1 match ending in No Result and they finished 8th in the 9-team points table with a total of 9 points. That season also happened to be the last of Deccan Chargers in IPL.

Delhi Capitals (2013)

The Delhi Capital, formerly known as Delhi Daredevils, endured one of the worst ever starts in an IPL campaign so far, having lost their opening six matches in a row in the 2013 season. Overall, the Daredevils managed to win just 3 matches of their 16 matches to finish the 2013 season in the last position (ninth) in the nine-team points table.

Mumbai Indians (2014)

The four-time champions Mumbai Indians have failed to win an opening game of the season since their win over Chennai Super Kings in 2012. In 2014, they suffered back-to-back five defeats in a row.

However, they made a comeback to reach the play-offs after securing seven wins in 14 matches with a superior Net Run Rate for a fourth placed finish in the league stage of an 8-team table. In the play-off, MI lost to CSK in the Eliminator. The first time a team reached play-offs despite losing their opening five matches.

Mumbai Indians (2015)

Following on a similar pattern to 2014 season, Mumbai Indians started 2015 campaign also on a similar note, but this time they lost 4 opening matches as opposed to 5 in the previous season and secured 8 wins in 14 matches to finish the league stage in second position in the 8-team points table.

In the play-off rounds, MI beat CSK twice - in Qualifier 1 and the Final - to lift their second IPL title. The only time the team won the title after losing the opening four or more matches in a season.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (2019)

Royal Challengers Bangalore joined Delhi Daredevils as the team with the worst start in an IPL season after they lost their opening six matches of the 2019 season. In the end, RCB finished the campaign in last position (eighth) after the league stages, winning just 5 of their 14 matches.