It is not often that a team holding five titles in a 19-year-old league struggles to command the season from the word go. But such has been the fate of Mumbai Indians (MI) that they have not won their season opener in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since 2012. Incidentally, 2013—the year the losing streak began—was also the year they won the first of their five titles.
The 5 Factor: Why things could change in IPL 2026 for MI
Mumbai won their first IPL title after participating for five years without a trophy, having started in 2008 and endured the trophyless seasons of 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Now, it has been five seasons since they last won an IPL (last title coming in the 2020 edition). In the last five seasons, in fact, they have failed to reach the final. Maybe, sixth time lucky again, is what the bosses would be thinking and so would be their captain Hardik Pandya, who, before landing back to Mumbai, had made back-to-back final appearances with Gujarat Titans, winning the title in 2022 and finishing runner-up in 2023.
Mumbai Indians IPL Performance (2021–2025)
| IPL Season | Final Position | Summary of the Campaign |
| 2025 | 3rd Place | A strong resurgence under Hardik Pandya. MI finished 4th in the league, won the Eliminator against GT, but fell to Punjab Kings in Qualifier 2. |
| 2024 | 10th Place | A challenging transitional year. Despite 20 wickets from Jasprit Bumrah, the team finished at the bottom of the table with only 4 wins. |
| 2023 | 3rd Place | Powered by Suryakumar Yadav’s 605 runs, MI defied the odds to reach the playoffs, eventually losing to Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 2. |
| 2022 | 10th Place | The franchise’s first-ever “wooden spoon” finish. A disastrous start with eight consecutive losses saw them finish last in the 10-team format. |
| 2021 | 5th Place | The defending champions narrowly missed the playoffs on Net Run Rate (NRR) despite finishing level on 14 points with KKR. |
MI’s Last Taste of Opening Day Glory
To find the last time the Men in Blue and Gold won their first game of the season, you have to travel back to April 4, 2012. It was a different era entirely: Sachin Tendulkar was still the heartbeat of the batting order, and a star-studded lineup featuring Ricky Ponting and Rohit Sharma secured an 8-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings. Since that night in Chennai, the “opening day jinx” has claimed every captain and combination the franchise has fielded.
A Timeline of the Opening Day “Hoodoo” For Mumbai Indians
The streak began in 2013, coincidentally the same year Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy mid-season to spark their first title win. Despite winning five trophies in this window, the first game has remained an unconquered peak:
| Year | Opponent | Result |
| 2013 | RCB | Lost by 2 runs |
| 2014 | KKR | Lost by 41 runs |
| 2015 | KKR | Lost by 7 wickets |
| 2016 | RPS | Lost by 9 wickets |
| 2017 | RPS | Lost by 7 wickets |
| 2018 | CSK | Lost by 1 wicket |
| 2019 | DC | Lost by 37 runs |
| 2020 | CSK | Lost by 5 wickets |
| 2021 | RCB | Lost by 2 wickets |
| 2022 | DC | Lost by 4 wickets |
| 2023 | RCB | Lost by 8 wickets |
| 2024 | GT | Lost by 6 runs |
| 2025 | LSG | Lost by 12 runs |