The IPL 2020 might be over, but its hangover is still lingering around in the cricketing fraternity. The way the eight teams played in the 13th edition of the tournament will be remembered for a long time. Especially the fans will reminisce the dominant display by the champions, Mumbai Indians. The Rohit Sharma-led side won its 5th championship by playing the highest level of cricket.

And by the looks of it, they might continue their supremacy in the league in the coming times because of the quality of their side. Arguably this Mumbai Indians side has to be one of the best T20 teams ever to be assembled. The playing XI is packed with match-winners. And to beat them, the oppositions have to be on top of their game. Otherwise, they can just hope that they don’t get humiliated.

Such kind of dominance is only related to a couple of teams in cricketing history. One is the West Indies side of the 1970s, and the other is the Australian team of the 2000s. And when it comes to white-ball cricket, the latter has to be the pick. They have won five 50-overs World Cups, including three in a row. At the time, Australian cricket was at its peak because of the amount of talent in the side. And surprisingly, this Mumbai Indians side is very much similar to that Australian team, which ruled the cricketing spectrum for a decade.

Mumbai Indians XI and their Mighty Aussie equivalents:

1) Quinton de Kock – Adam Gilchrist

A team can have multiple match-winners in their ranks, but even then, they might fail if they don’t have a platform to build on. That’s why a game-changing opener is essential for a team to succeed in any format. More so in the T20s, where the teams want to set the tone upfront. And that’s what Mumbai Indians did throughout the IPL 2020.

Quinton de Kock provided them with the ideal starts in most of the games. He took on the opposition bowling attacks from the first ball itself. To go with it, his safe pair of hands behind the stumps also helped the Mumbai bowlers immensely. In a way, he did what Adam Gilchrist used to do in his prime for the Kangaroos.

The Aussie keeper-batsman always made sure that his team got the perfect starts. And add to that his glovework, which played the perfect foil to the menacing Australian bowling attack. Like Gilchrist, Quinton’s aggressive play at the top has been one of the reason’s for Mumbai’s success. Hence, it can be said that De Kock’s role is quite similar to Adam’s in that famed Australian white-ball team.

2) Rohit Sharma – Ricky Ponting

There is a saying in cricket that ‘A captain should lead from the front’, and it is exactly what Rohit Sharma has been doing for the Mumbai Indians. Since donning the captaincy hat in 2013, he has won 5 IPL championships. That makes him one of the most decorated T20 captains in the game. And the aura of his leadership skills is growing with the passing year.

Along with all those glories, he has also been Mumbai’s batting mainstay. He is one of the few players in the league who has breached the 5000-run mark. Looking at all these records, he can be easily equated with Ricky Ponting. The former Australian skipper took the Kangaroos to monumental heights.

He is the country’s highest run-getter in ODIs and as well as in Tests. Besides, his captaincy record is amongst the best in the game. To be precise, under him the Australian team won 4 ICC titles. Thus, now it is fair to say that Rohit’s captaincy genius in IPL is similar to Ponting’s in Yellow jersey. The other interesting thing is that both are known for their pull-shots.

3) Suryakumar Yadav – Damien Martyn

The thing about this Mumbai Indians team is that their batting line-up is not just about international stars. They are a couple of uncapped gems that are as effective as the capped ones. One of them is Suryakumar Yadav. A bit of innovation with classy touch play is the craftsmanship of the Mumbaikar.

The right-hander has been the lynchpin of Mumbai’s batting unit in the last three seasons. He has stood up for the team on numerous occasions. Still, he always remains in the shadow of the other stars of the side. And it is kind of similar to Damien Martyn in that Australian team full of superstars. He scored close to 10000 international runs but remained one of the unsung heroes of the Yellow team.

Martyn was a rock-solid middle-order batsman. He was equally adept against pace and spin, which also happens to be Surya’s strength. Apart from that, both are very agile in the field. They can change the course of the game with their athletic brilliance. So, there are indeed a lot of similarities between these two under-rated players of two champion teams.

4) Ishan Kishan – Michael Clarke

The Mumbai Indians have always been home to some of the most exciting young talents of the country. And the 13th edition was no different as they groomed a youngster like Ishan Kishan in the best possible way. He was given regular opportunities, and the result was the emergence of a potential match-winner. His impact can be best explained by the fact that he ended up as the leading run-scorer of the side in IPL 2020.

Moreover, the fearless brand of cricket, which he displayed in this season, has quickly turned him into a sensation in the country. And now he is the David amongst the many Goliaths in this Mumbai team. His rise has an uncanny resemblance to Michael Clarke‘s in that famed Australian set-up. The right-hander who made his debut in the golden period of country’s cricket held his own.

Clarke played a crucial role when Ricky Ponting’s men defended their title in the 2007 World Cup. He scored over 450 runs in the tournament and made a name for himself in world cricket, which is exactly what Kishan has done with his match-winning performances in this IPL. Besides, like Clarke, Kishan has also a history of injuries in his young career. In the end, both these players have quite a few things in common in the initial phase of their respective cricketing journey.

5) Kieron Pollard – Andrew Symonds

The biggest strength of this Mumbai Indians team is the picture-perfect balance of their side. They have a game-changer in every position. In particular, they have a T20 giant like Kieron Pollard in their line-up, who has a knack of making things happen whenever the team is in trouble. In other words, the Caribbean all-rounder has been the crisis man for the Rohit Sharma led-side.

Most of the times, he plays those game-changing cameos down the order. And then, if required, he also picks up crucial wickets with his medium-pace bowling. On top of that, he also contributes with his athleticism on the field. In short, Pollard is always in the game, and it is a quality that was also possessed by the former Australian cricketer, Andrew Symonds. In his prime, Symonds was an invaluable asset for the Kangaroos.

His range hitting added the required muscle to the Australian batting unit. He also scalped important wickets whenever the captain handed over the ball to him. And apart from all these, he could change the games just with his fielding. That’s why Symonds is always considered a big-match player, and the same is the case with Pollard. Interestingly, both Symonds and Pollard have never been on good terms with their respective cricket boards.

6) Hardik Pandya – Shane Watson

With the evolution of Hardik Pandya, the batsman has given an edge to this Mumbai Indians batting line-up. Especially, his ability to play the big shots at will has turned him into a powerhouse of this side. He has been getting into this freakish habit of changing the momentum of a game in just a matter of overs. And now it seems that he is the X-factor of this invincible MI team.

What’s more impressive is that Pandya’s stature is growing with every outing. He is slowly getting into that level where he is single-handedly winning games for his team. And stunningly, his transition is very close to Shane Watson’s in the Yellow jersey. There was a time when the all-rounder became the A-lister of the Australian team.

Watson played an important role in the country’s white-ball dominance a decade ago. His match-winning capabilities helped the team win back-to-back Champions trophies in 2006 and 2009 respectively, similar to Pandya’s contributions to Mumbai’s consecutive IPL title win. Notably, Watson’s power game became a talking point in the cricketing circle in his early days, and it is equivalent to Pandya’s range hitting these days.

7) Krunal Pandya – Darren Lehmann

There is no doubt that this Mumbai Indians’ side has some of the most gifted players of the modern-day game. But in between all those stars, there is also a street smart cricketer like Krunal Pandya who is always ready to play different roles according to the needs of the team. Time and again, he chips in with valuable contributions with his all-round cricket.

Whether it is with his bat or ball, Krunal gives his hundred percent on the field. He never backs down from challenges and comes up with inspiring performances whenever the situation demands. In simple terms, he is a selfless cricketer who just keeps on doing his work without thinking of any rewards. And it is not far from what Darren Lehmann did for the Australian team in the early 2000s.

The southpaw wasn’t a flamboyant cricketer by any means but always made sure that he contributed to the team in every possible way. He played that gutsy knock down the order whenever the team suffered a batting collapse, which is what Krunal does for the Mumbai team. Another thing that connects them is that both are left-arm spinners who never spun the ball much and liked to bowl the flatter trajectories.

8) Nathan Coulter-Nile – Nathan Bracken

One of the reasons why Mumbai Indians have been the most successful side in the IPL is that they back their players irrespective of their reputation. And sometimes, it is enough for a player to get his confidence back. That’s what happened with Nathan Coulter-Nile in IPL 2020. After going through a lean patch for most of the season, the pacer delivered when it mattered the most.

Coulter Nile bowled a match-defining spell of 2/29 in the final. In simple terms, he turned out to be the unsung hero of the team’s fifth championship win. And it is very much alike to Nathan Bracken’s contribution to the Australian team’s 2006 ICC Champions Trophy win. The left-arm pacer picked up three wickets in the all-important final of that tournament.

At the time, Bracken mostly went unnoticed because of the star bowlers of the side, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee, and it is exactly what Coulter-Nile experienced in the IPL 2020. He always remained in the shadows of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult. Similarly, like Bracken, Nathan’s career has also been marred by injuries, but there has never been a doubt about his bowling prowess.

9) Rahul Chahar – Brad Hogg

The IPL 2020 wasn’t the most pleasant season for the spinners, and the wickets column is a testimony to the fact. But it didn’t deter the 21-year-old Rahul Chahar from making his mark in the tournament. The leggie was instrumental in shaping Mumbai’s championship glory. He bagged 15 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 8.2.

More than the numbers, it is the temperament he showcased that might have earned him a lot of admirers. He played the second fiddle to the pace department to perfection. And never tried to out-do them. Such maturity is what relates him to Australia’s Brad Hogg. The chinaman was an under-rated star who mostly played the support role to the team’s pace attack in his playing days.

Hogg was part of the Yellow team which won World Cups in 2003 and 2007. In both those marquee events, he made his presence felt by picking up 36 wickets. More importantly, he stuck to his role, without trying to hog the limelight, and it is what Chahar is doing for this MI side. Coincidentally both Chahar and Hogg both didn’t win a single Man of the Match award in their team’s championship runs even after bowling some match-winning spells.

10) Jasprit Bumrah – Brett Lee

It is just amazing how Jasprit Bumrah has gone from strength to strength. Such has been his rise that now he has become the trump card of captain, Rohit Sharma. Whenever the team is in trouble, Sharma throws the ball to him without having a second thought. And Bumrah doesn’t disappoint him often, which is clear from his performances in IPL 2020.

He picked up 27 wickets in the tournament and led Mumbai’s bowling attack from the front. Most of the time, he kept the batsmen on a leash with his pace and nagging lengths. Looking at his ferocity, one might think of Brett Lee, who had a similar impact on the Australian team. The speedster played a key role when the Kangaroos were dominating the white-ball cricket in the 2000s.

In particular, Lee played a key role when the Kangaroos won the 2003 World Cup. He topped the charts with 22 wickets, which is similar to Bumrah’s wicket-tally in 2020 IPL. Likewise, Brett could scare the batsmen with his pace and bounce, and it is very close to what Jasprit does these days. Besides, like Lee, Bumrah also has a habit of going after the best batsmen in the opposition.

11) Trent Boult – Glenn McGrath

In any format, the bowling team needs to make the new-ball count. And that statement becomes even more important in the T20s as in this format the bowlers don’t get many chances to upstage the batsmen. As it happened, the Mumbai Indians followed that template in the IPL 2020. Jasprit Bumrah and Co. bowled some game-changing spells upfront and demoralized the oppositions with their attacking mindset.

In particular, Trent Boult, took 16 of his 25 wickets in the powerplays. The Kiwi provided the near-perfect starts to the Rohit Sharma-led side with the ball throughout the season. And it is quite similar to what Glenn McGrath did for the Australian team. The lanky pacer was a serious customer with a new-ball in his hands.

In his prime, Glenn outfoxed some of the best in the business with his ability to move the ball sideways. He was one of those bowlers who can extract movement even on placid tracks, and it is also what Boult is known for. Likewise, Trent is very accurate with his line and lengths, which was also McGrath’s strong suit.

Disclaimer – This is a fun list. Some Australian players missed the list