Mumbai Indians are a T20 colossus. Three of the last four IPLs are safely tucked in their trophy cabinet – as well as those for 2013 and 2015 – and they are heavy favourites to add another over the coming months.

And yet, even in this almost unprecedented streak – CSK in 2010 and 2011 are the only other side to retain the IPL title – Mumbai have always had slip ups. They have lost eight matches in real-time over the last two seasons; in a very literal sense, they are not unbeatable. Compare their dominance with that of the world’s other leading T20 side – Trinbago Knight Riders, who won all 12 games in the most recent CPL season – and Mumbai’s record is more about structural excellence, key decisions being nailed at every opportunity for the last decade, that ensure they will triumph over a full season. While their side has always contained plenty of the best players around, their success has never relied solely on individuals having outstanding campaigns.

As such, building a plan to take them down is not a case of targeting individuals and hoping the castle crumbles. It’s about building a coherent strategy which considers how every piece fits into Rohit Sharma’s puzzle. So let’s try.

How to beat Mumbai Indians with the ball

Back your spinners early

In the last few seasons, Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock have been less effective against spin than against pace. While Rohit has had issues against the very quickest bowlers – he has averaged 15 against high pace in the last two seasons – as a broader pattern, it’s been spin (particularly leg-spin and off-spin) which has caused Mumbai’s opening pair the most bother.

It could be down to individual improvement, though six wickets in 11 Powerplays since the start of last year for New Zealand and Northern Districts doesn’t suggest that he has simply gone to another level. One more likely factor is that Mumbai have used him in a very clear role, and that’s benefited him significantly. Since joining Mumbai, Boult has been able to bowl much more in the Powerplay, with upwards of 63 per cent of his bowling done in this phase – in the IPL up to this point, it was 52 per cent. The quality that Mumbai possess elsewhere, and the stability of their method and plans, allows Boult to operate in his favoured role the vast majority of the time, and teams are ‘forced’ to attack him with Bumrah at the other end.

Like any well oiled machine, remove one Boult from its usual spot, and things go wrong. Going after Boult may seem risky given the number of wickets he collected last season, but the knock-on effects are obvious, and his long-term record is not good. Attacking him – forcing him out of the attack, and into his less favoured zones – is a risk very much worth taking.

Which teams are well placed to beat Mumbai Indians?

On the face of it, the teams best placed to target Mumbai are KKR (should they find a place for Lockie Ferguson and Pat Cummins in the same XI) and Delhi Capitals. Rajasthan Royals have notably had success against Mumbai in the last few seasons, despite struggling more broadly, but while they are set up to compete with the high pace and Powerplay spin, they have typically relied on huge individual performances to see them over the line rather than a clear gameplan.

Yet of course, these are only suggestions for how one could construct a gameplan against Mumbai Indians. You could follow each of these ideas to the letter, and fall flat on your face in a humiliating defeat; you could ignore them altogether, and leave triumphant victors. For any number of reasons – conditions, personnel, individual performance or collective mentality – teams may deviate and find success.