IPL 2018 | Mumbai Indians well placed to do an encore of last yearâs success
Mumbai - The city of dreams is never short on hopes. People from all walks of life come to the city with a hope to make it big. Some find it tough. But they struggle and, eventually, reach where they want to. Some, though, are lost on the way. It is the story of Mumbai, in a nutshell.
They are mad for cricket and sometimes a group of a cricket tragic. But beyond the rocks that were formed by the hard work of the players and coaches at the Azad Maidan and Shivaji Park - the breeding grounds of Bombay cricket - there lies a romance. A culture that thrives on how well a batsman can defend and how many times he could just leave the ball to the wicketkeeper to frustrate the bowler. It was not an easy thing to imbibe for a Bombay guy, but they do excel in it with a strong desire that comes from the air of the âCity of dreamsâ.
The city that has always come to produce classical acts like Sunil Gavaskar, Polly Umrigar, Vinoo Mankad, Dilip Sardesai and Sachin Tendulkar, it was very hard to imagine that they would accept the T20 cricket like that beautifully. While one could argue that the success of Mumbai Indians has actually little to do with the original Bombay school of cricket, how would you explain the Bombay crowd though?Â
Mumbai houses one of the most vociferous crowds in the country and one of the most knowledgeable one as well. They cheer for their team, root for them, but at the same time, donât forget to applaud the opposition when they do something exceptional. It is just another Bombay thing to do for them.Â
But, they do have the time to chest-thump in pride and now grown-ups can easily tell their kids what Mumbai Indians mean to the legacy of the IPL. Whenever the history of the IPL would be written, Mumbai Indians will take a page all of them. The red thick line after the first decade of the IPL is staring at them as the illuminating light of the tournament and three titles in 10 years have put them at the top of the marking table.Â
However, it was not always like that. In the first three editions of the IPL, despite having the services of some of the best players of the generation - read Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya - they didnât do anything spectacular. But, since 2010, after revamping the team, the Mukesh Ambani-owned franchise have been a force to reckon with over the years, making it to the knockout stage seven out of eight times since 2010, including four final appearances, winning three of them. They have always been termed as slow starters in the league, but they were able to turn things around in dramatic fashion towards the end, especially in the last four years and that experience in recovering from the initial stumbles holds them in good stead and they will go into the 11th edition as the defending champions and one of the favourites to win the trophy no matter what.Â
While the combination conundrum, and far too many injuries to key players and the indifferent form of the batsmen, apart from Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu, majorly contributed to Mumbai's below-par showing in 2016, the team redeemed themselves in the following year in their Championship run.Â
So, what is their reason for the success? While most other teams have looked up to two or three individuals to carry them home, in the Mumbai Indians set-up, the work has mostly been distributed and the team management - which probably has one of the best, if not the best, data analysis units in the league, have specific roles for each and every player to make their performances count. And on the top of it, Mumbai players have always kept the team on the high pedestal rather than own performances.
Otherwise what explains the logic behind Rohit's decision to not promote himself to the top despite doing that job in India colours with a huge amount of success. While that decision highlighted the team's need to have a big name like him in the middle order, it also explained their confidence in the likes of Parthiv Patel, Nitish Rana and the overseas openers like Jos Buttler. This time too, they have one more excellent player in the form of Evin Lewis, who has established himself as one of the best T20 players of the time.
However, their middle-order doesnât paint a usual menacing picture as Ishan Kishan, Surya Kumar Yadav, and Kieron Pollard will take charge of the same, but none of them. The presence of Pandya brothers, however, will be the biggest boost for the franchise in the small Wankhede arena and the team will be safe if they fire on all cylinders.Â
If the batting fails, they still have a very good bowling line-up even to defend a small total. Jasprit Bumrah knows the Wankhede more than anyone else and will be a force to reckon with â with both new ball and death overs. Mustafizur Rahman, who pinned India to the mat in so many matches before, has very good pace and variations in his arsenal to trouble the opposition and donât be surprised if he gives a neck-to-neck competition to Bumrah. And think who he has to support him - Pat Cummins, fire and brimstone, and ready to spew venom.Â
So, brace for another exciting season ahead as Mumbai Indians will come to paint the Wankhede arena blue and will try to lay the jokes of being slow starters on the hands of the naysayers. Anyway, April 7 is not too far away.