Ahead of their match against bottom-placed Kings XI Punjab on Sunday, Mumbai Indians find themselves in the unfamiliar position of being on top of the league standings at the end of eight matches with six victories.
The defending champions have been known to be slow starters but not this time around and a few factors have helped them this campaign. The team have utilised only 13 players so far, one of the only teams to have a settled look to them. And despite a change in venue in the coming matches (four of their next six games will be in Sharjah and Dubai), it is likely that the team management will not opt to unnecessarily meddle with such a winning combination.
"We like to get there and assess things, like to be proactive, not overthink it," de Kock said post their win over KKR. "We will assess things and start with our decision making. We have started watching a couple of games on how wickets are behaving. We will plan when we get to those venues."
Mumbai's pace troika of Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and James Pattinson have played a big role in their strong start to the current campaign. But as evidenced from their last encounter, Nathan Coulter-Nile, who had come in for James Pattinson, also chipped in with a crucial scalp up top. And even though pitches are slowing down, the four-time champions are confident about their pacers, something which coach Mahela Jayawardene alluded to.
"Fast bowlers still have a bigger role to play in this competition...as long as they are making contributions, penetrating through the opponent batting line-up, it does not matter what kind of surfaces we play on."
Skipper Rohit Sharma will be hoping that the team continues in the same vein and complacency does not sink in. The team already have the requisite number of points which might be enough for them to qualify but they will be eyeing a top two spot with the start they have made.
"I think it's important to make sure that we stay on the money. We can't get complacent and we know that this tournament can get funny. So we cannot take the foot off the pedal," he had told the broadcasters after their last win.