IPL 2018 | Time running out for Mumbai Indians to address regular blunders
The only team to clinch the Indian Premier League title thrice, Mumbai Indians, have been a force to be reckoned with over the years, making it to the playoffs seven out of eight seasons since 2010. However, they have suffered a severe roadblock this year after losing five of their six games so far.
In the last four years, barring the last one, there has been a common narrative to Mumbai Indians’ sojourn in the league. They suffered five losses in a row at the start of the 2014 season and then lost five out of their first six matches in 2015 and then slipped to four defeats in their first six matches in 2016. However, they turned things around dramatically in the business end of the tournament and went on to win the title in 2015 even. So, it is an established fact that Mumbai’s symphony has always joined the cause when the rendition is nearing the competition rather than hitting high notes early on. However, looking back at their journey so far in the league, it becomes quite evident that the time has almost run away from them.
After much of the hype, Mumbai Indians have again failed to have a good start to their campaign by losing five of their six matches this season. While the first few losses went down to the wire, their loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad has put a huge concern about their woes ahead of the match against Chennai Super Kings - the same team who took the game away from Mumbai in the last four overs to kick start the season on a brilliant fashion.
On Tuesday, in the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai collapsed to their lowest-ever IPL total of 87 runs despite the Hyderabad-based franchise lacking the incisive skills of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Billy Stanlake in their arsenal. While the past few matches were lost thanks to some loose passage of play in the latter half of the game, for the loss on Tuesday, Mumbai had no one to blame but themselves.Â
At the auction, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings decided to accumulate as many core players in the team and while it has been a pleasant surprise for the Chennai fans so far, the same has become the Achilles heel for the defending champions. Most importantly, Pandya brothers and Kieron Pollard have struggled big-time which has increased Mumbai’s woes manifold.
After Mumbai decided to promote Suryakumar Yadav - who batted with considerable amount of success for Kolkata Knight Riders in the past - to the opening spot and put Rohit Sharma in the middle order, they have been devoid of a consistent performer to take care of the post powerplay overs and that’s exactly the reason why the lack of runs from both Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya along with Pollard has hurt Mumbai’s cause.
To put the matters into perspective, at least one of their openers - either of Evin Lewis, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav - has given them a start in almost every match, but the middle order, apart from the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, has failed to cash in on the opportunity. Against Delhi Daredevils, the hole in the middle order was exposed completely as despite having the edge in the game at 141 for 2 in 13 overs, the floodgates were opened soon after and the team ran out of steam to end up with a score of 194 while they could easily score more than 220.
Pick the case of Hardik Pandya first. After batting well at the No.5 position in the opening encounter against CSK, he moved down to the No.7 position and since then, he has been lackadaisical, to say the least, scoring 48 runs in the next four innings. His batting against Sunrisers Hyderabad was the frightening illustration of his struggle that he has been encountering recently. Playing 19 balls, the Baroda batsman could only manage to score 3 runs at a time when the team desperately needed him to score runs.
 © BCCISimilarly, Pollard is gradually becoming a non-performing asset for the team. While he is no more a bowler in the IPL, his batting has also failed so far. While he has been a lower down order batsman in the tournament, the team would have hoped him to give some quick runs in the league. However, with not much time left in the innings, he is striking at 88.23 in his first 10 balls, which proves to be the team’s kryptonite in the tournament.Â
On the contrary, Rohit Sharma not opening the innings has also not helped the team’s cause at all. Rohit, who dropped himself to the middle order in 2015 in order to give more stability to the team, knows it for a fact that he is best-suited to the opening role, notwithstanding his 94 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. It is also a fact to be noted that he walked out in the first over, with Mumbai languishing at 0 for 2, effectively opening the innings. The Indian vice-captain is still best suited for the top-order which can give Suryakumar Yadav a chance to take care of the middle over.
While their batting has troubled in the last two encounters, their bowling also doesn’t paint a full confident picture either. Jasprit Bumrah - probably the world’s best death bowler at the moment - has bowled excellently in the opening overs, but he has also bowled a couple of poor 19th overs in the tournament which has cost Mumbai the game directly.
In the tournament opener, Chennai Super Kings needed 27 runs from 12 balls to win and with Bumrah bowling the penultimate over of the match, it was Mumbai’s game to lose. But, reality struck the Mumbai team when Bumrah could only manage to bowl one perfect yorker in five attempts today and the other three went for sixes. Although the pacer was successful in getting Dwayne Bravo out, he had conceded 20 runs already, and the game was all but over by then. Â
The thing again repeated in the match against Rajasthan Royals as after bowling a superb 17th over, in which he picked up two wickets by conceding only one run, he ruined his effort in the 19th over of the run chase when the Royals were in search of 28 runs. With Bumrah in charge, the Mumbai-based team were assured of a win, but their star performer bowled two short and wide balls to which Jofra Archer and K Gowtham slapped for four. Eventually, he leaked 18 runs off the over and Mumbai lost the game.
While no one can deny Mumbai’s ability to make a comeback at any stage of the tournament, considering their familiarity with similar situations in the past, it is also a fact worth remembering that they are running out of time and the match against Chennai Super Kings today comes as a perfect opportunity for the team to make a statement of intent just the way Delhi Daredevils did last night. Sometimes, a small change can be too many.