Apr 25, 2022, 13:24 IST

Mumbai Indians is the Manchester United of IPL and it isn’t a pleasant place to be

mi

Indian Premier League 2022 began with a lot of promise as this year was the first time in nearly a decade there were ten teams playing. Every team went to the auction table and did their best. Mumbai Indians walked into the auction table and knew they had to do a lot especially after letting the likes of Boult, De Kock and Rahul Chahar leave. Hardik Pandya too was released and was promptly picked by Gujarat Titans. What happened in the auction table was beyond belief and Mumbai Indians are paying the price for it on the field.

Mistakes in the auction table –

Quinton De Kock, Trent Boult and Rahul Chahar were the top performers for Mumbai Indians in the editions prior to the 2022 season. While Mumbai opted to retain Rohit Sharma, SKY, Pollard and Bumrah. It was baffling that they did not opt to go for either Boult or De Kock. One has to remember Boult was the most successful new ball bowler for Mumbai. De Kock on the other hand was taking the pressure off Rohit Sharma when opening the batting. Mumbai tried to off-set the loss of Boult by bringing in Daniel Sams and Tymal Mills. Both left arm seamers who have proved to be big time failures for Mumbai Indians. With the loss of De Kock, the pressure has fallen on Rohit Sharma and the MI skipper has been enduring a bad patch of form with the bat.

The price tag pressure on Ishan Kishan –

If one has seen Ishan Kishan bat previously and seen him bat during the 2022 season, one would wonder if he is the same guy. Here is the player who was bought big by Mumbai Indians. The Ambani’s paid a massive INR 15.25 Crore to buy him and Kishan was in pressure right off the bat. He started the season well with an 81 against Delhi and 54in the next game. In the next 6 games he has scored 14, 26, 3,13,0 and 8. That’s just 64 runs in 6 games, on paper he might be one of MI’s top scorers but remove the 135 runs from the first 2 games, the 23 year old has been struggling to time the ball. Against LSG on Sunday at the Wankhede he meandered aimlessly for 20 balls before he fell to one of the most unluckiest dismissals.

IK

The middle order and all rounder conundrum –

Tim David was expected to play a huge role for Mumbai Indians this year. But the 25 year old Singapore born Australian player has been warming the benches. Kieron Pollard has been abysmal with the bat, as the recently retired West Indian looked a shell of his former self. Apart from Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma, none have looked to put up a fight. Even Jaydev Unadkat was batting at number 7 which shows the lack of depth the Mumbai Indians had this season. While Hardik was shipped out many Mumbai fans felt that Krunal Pandya will be bought back. Mumbai had another curveball for the Mumbai fans when they decided against buying Krunal Pandya. This has affected Mumbai a lot as they have missed the run scoring and left arm darters of the older Pandya brother this season.

No Jofra Archer isn’t the problem but the lack of planning is –

Mumbai Indians were thrilled to get Jofra Archer on board and the entire auction room were surprised at the elation. Every team knew in the back of their minds, Archer would not play this year. While Archer is a future investment, Mumbai were short sighted when they did not sign a bowler who could bowl quick and trouble the batters. They could have gone for a Ferguson or ALzzari Joseph, knowing pretty well that they would need a genuine wicket taker. The lack of forethought has comeback to bite Mumbai big time, while we may watch Bumrah and Archer wreck havoc in the 2023 season, the 2022 season has seen every fast bowler get mauled around. Someone like Basil Thampi has been a huge let down, even Unadkat has been doing more with the bat rather than the ball.

JA

The spin puzzle –

It took Mumbai 7 games to try Hrithik Shokeen and the youngster was impressive in his debut game. Murugan Ashwin was preferred over Mayank Markande and the leggie from Chennai has proved to be expensive. This begs the question why wasn’t young Markande played by the time Mumbai had their backs against the wall. Could Mumbai have gone in for someone like Piyush Chawla or Amit Mishra towards the back-end of the auction? Remember both Chawla and Mishra are top wicket takers in the IPL. With the loss of Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya, either of Chawla and more so Mishra could have given Mumbai the wicket taking option in the middle overs. If you look at the stats, Mumbai this year have found no control or penetration in any part of the game while bowling. Apart from Bumrah there has been no threat with the ball for the men in blue and gold.

The Manchester United comparison –

Erik Ten Hag will have a huge task on his hands, when he takes over the reins of Manchester United. He knows fully well he needs to ship out a whole bunch of stars including Cristiano Ronaldo, Pogba and Cavani. United began the season on a high but now are close to missing out on a top 4 finish. Mumbai Indians are in the same boat, for once they need to a mass clearout with even Pollard’s place put under scrutiny. The likes of Sams, Mills, Ashwin, Markande, Anomolpreet Singh, Ramandeep Singh all have to be shown the door. The time for Mumbai to build their next title winning season starts now, rather than 3 months down the line. Jayawardene, Rohit and the think-tank of MI need to sit down and look at the players they could target in the transfer window. They need to get in the players who can perform right now rather than waiting for them to mature.

Just like Manchester United,, the 5 time champs Mumbai Indians have a crazy fan following, while this season still has 6 matches to go, the season has been a nasty reminder of what former United great Roy Keane once said “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail”

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