Published: May 28, 2011, 10:27 AM (IST)
Edited: Aug 20, 2014, 11:38 PM (IST)
By Nishad Pai Vaidya
“Duniya hila denge hum” is something the Mumbai Indians threatened to do as they looked like the team to beat for most parts of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2011. As they slid to a defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Second Qualifier on Friday it was Mumbai Indians’ “Duniya” which was shaken. The tremors were felt earlier, but the earth below their feet violently tore apart by the devastating force of Chris Gayle.
At the end of 10 matches, the Mumbai Indians were sitting pretty at top of the table and looked set to maintain their hold on that spot. They had lost just two out of ten games which showed that they had performed brilliantly. Mumbai’s tenth game was against Delhi which they won by 32 runs. From this point onwards their overall performance nosedived. There were three consecutive defeats – against Kings XI Punjab, Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals. They managed two wins against Kolkata, but these triumphs were not as convincing as the ones they registered early in the tournament.
Here is why they failed to deliver the goods in the closing stages of the tournament:
Malinga’s loss of form and the effect it had on the MI bowling
Lasith Malinga has been the key performer for the Mumbai Indians right since IPL season two. He started this season with a bang and the purple cap remained on his head throughout the tournament. In Mumbai Indians’ last four games, Malinga picked up just one wicket, whereas at the start of the season he used to pick up wickets at the drop of a hat. His average in the last four games is 108 compared to 9.9 in the first 12 games!
The drop in form started in the game against Rajasthan Royals in which Shane Watson carted all the bowlers, but marked Malinga for special treatment. Malinga’s biggest strength is his Yorkers, but on that day he didn’t seem to get them right. He bowled just one yorker in his entire quota of four overs and was consistently bowling short. Shane Watson took a liking to that and destroyed him with ease. Since then, Malinga has not been able to bowl the yorkers as consistently and as effectively as he used to. The effect on his ability to bowl unplayable yorkers has had a direct bearing on his ability to take wickets.
Munaf Patel has been consistent throughout, but after Malinga lost rhythm, he had too much to do as even Harbhajan Singh failed to create magic with his off-spin. Harbhajan picked up one five wicket haul in this tournament, but apart from that he hasn’t done anything of note. But when Malinga was doing well, Harbhajan did not have too much pressure as the damage would have been done by the time he came on to bowl.
Failure of the MI batting
Till the tenth game, the Mumbai Indians batting line-up looked invincible, but all that changed when they were bundled out for 87 by Punjab, couldn’t chase 136 against Deccan and scored just 133 against Rajasthan. Sachin Tendulkar carried the responsibility to provide a solid start. When he faltered, the onus was on either Rohit Sharma or Ambati Rayudu to anchor the innings. Rayudu has not performed after Mumbai’s tenth game. Since then, he has not crossed 20 in any game (One must exclude his crucial 17 not out against Kolkata). Even Sharma’s numbers after the tenth game aren’t encouraging. He has scored just the solitary fifty which was against Rajasthan but his other scores read 5, 4, 10, 0, and 13.
Tendulkar has struggled to be himself in this IPL, though he is second in the list of run scorers at the time of writing. His struggles were well covered when Sharma and Rayudu were able to score, but once their consistency dropped the whole Mumbai Indians set-up suffered.
Even the batsmen who followed were not in the best of knick. Kieron Pollard was struggling for form throughout the tournament. Unlike the last season, he hasn’t been able to finish off the innings with big hits. Mumbai also had a rusty Andrew Symonds who picked up the bat after a long stay away from the game. Tirumalasetti Suman looked good in the game against Pune, but struggled to replicate his show in the matches that followed.
Unsettled opening combination
Mumbai Indians have changed their opening combination too many times in this tournament. Tendulkar walked out to open the innings with Davey Jacobs, James Franklin, Rajagopal Sathish, Aiden Blizzard and Suman. Leaving out Jacobs was forced as he injured his hand, but the other changes were absolutely unnecessary. Blizzard did well in the game against Delhi, but was dropped after two failures. He came back in the Eliminator and scored a fantastic fifty which showed that he should have been persisted with earlier.
They tried Suman upfront for two games which in my opinion was not the right decision because his form wasn’t encouraging after the Pune game. By the time the knock-outs came, they were still struggling to find a stable opening combination.
Questionable tactics and captaincy
Form is something the team management and the captain cannot control but choosing the right players and getting the best out of them is certainly something they can do. Tendulkar’s captaincy skills have always been under the scanner and this IPL is no different. When things were going right for Mumbai he made a few blunders, or they went into oblivion due to the success.
In the Qualifier against Bangalore he opted to bowl first on an absolute belter. He then opened the bowling with the inexperienced Abu Nechim Ahmed instead of Malinga or Munaf who may have been able to restrict Gayle to some extent.
Not just this, Pollard was kept down the order in games where he should have been sent in earlier. Against Pune he got time at the crease and was lethal in the last two overs. He is the kind of a player who needs a little time in the middle before starting his blitzkrieg. Had he been sent earlier in some of the games, the results may have been different.
The Mumbai Indians management will have do some deep thinking and take some hard decisions if they have to get their hands on the elusive IPL Trophy next year.
(Nishad Pai Vaidya, a 20-year-old law student, is a club and college-level cricketer. His teachers always complain, “He knows the stats and facts of cricket more than the subjects we teach him.”)
