Mumbai Indians, the five time champions, it is mindboggling to even think how their world came crashing down this time around. No one in their wildest imagination would have thought that of all the teams, Mumbai Indians will find themselves without a single victory in the first several games. Whatever that could go wrong, did go wrong for them. This is a review of Mumbai Indians in IPl 2022.
The rot probably set in right at the auction table. Mumbai chose to retain Rohit, Pollard, Bumrah and Surya. By the looks of it, they may have done alright. Rohit afterall, is their captain, Surya has been an excellent performer and so is Bumrah. Their hands were tied because if given an option, they would have retained a few other players too. They had to let go of some of the performers like Ishan, Quinton, Pandyas and a few others but what they did not comprehend is the amount that they had to spend on one player, i.e., Ishan Kishan.
Upwards of 15CR for one player is far too high. It left with a small purse to be spent on others. For most of the time, when Mumbai won, they had firepower at the top, in the middle and in the lower middle order. All of that was missing and the team was very much imbalanced.
Jofra Archer
There was one more blunder, though Mumbai would like to call it a tactical move, of wasting resources for a bowler who will not be playing any part in the IPL. Jofra Archer. Mumbai claim that he is an investment for the future. Reports have revealed that he will not be playing any form of cricket for the entire year. How effective will he be when he returns is open to question. This further reduced the purse of the franchise.
Ishan Kishan seemed to want to justify the high price tag
Poor Ishan Kishan, that fellow must have been under enormous pressure to justify the high price tag. It certainly played a part in his performance or the lack of it. Even the seasoned cricketers weren’t paid this high a price and for someone who has hardly played 10 games for the country is fetched for an incredibly huge sum, it will start to prick the psyche. When you know that you were hired for 15CR, there will be a constant thought nagging you about whether you are really worth that much. This can be avoided if the performance was good but if the performance starts to falter, that is when negative thoughts will creep up on the mind. Ishan must have fallen victim to such thoughts.
We have seen this before when Chris Morris, Jamieson, Gowtham etc when they went for way higher than what they can truly command, they weren’t able to justify that. Jamieson infact, did not play the entire Dubai leg of the 2021 IPL for RCB. It looks like there is a direct relation between the cost of purchase and the soul of the player. Franchise will do well to remember this simple logic the next time they plan before the auction. I wonder how Ishan Kishan or Jofra Archer will be able to look at the owner of their franchise in the eye. It certainly wasn’t their fault. It was the result of poor strategy.
Rohit Sharma’s disastrous form
Ishan Kishan’s poor form could have been offset if Rohit had been his usual self. Unfortunately, for Mumbai, Rohit’s below par returns coincided directly with Ishan’s lean run. Not only Rohit wasn’t able to go onto a big score frequently but he also wasn’t able to get the ball off the square and thereby utilising valuable deliveries. Just because of the inability of the openers to launch the innings, the pressure fell on the middle and lower order to stabilise the innings and provide impetus. Without the power hitting capability of Hardik and Krunal, this wasn’t always possible.
Kieran Pollard
I honestly do not know what Mumbai sees in Pollard. He is a destroyer. He can take apart any bowling attack. All that is fine, but has he really been a destroyer all these years? I honestly, do not know. He may have won some games with his batting but it is his consistency that needs to be questioned. Left to me, I would not have retained Pollard in the first place. Whether I will pick him up in the auction is another matter.
Surya’s untimely injury
Surya was the only one who was in good nick but his untimely injury put paid to any hopes Mumbai might have had of qualifying for the playoffs. The unfortunate thing is that his injury has ruled him out of the Indian team against South Africa. He is not that young and to miss games for the nation when you are above 30, it is something Surya should avoid. Afterall, his international career is likely to be a short one for about 6-7 years only.
Jasprit Bumrah was off-colour
15 wickets in 14 games at an economy rate of 7.18, this is not the Bumrah that we know. Let us also remember that 5 of them, came in just one game. Perhaps, Bumrah is really tired after constant cricket over the last several years. Perhaps, he missed Trent Boult at the other end. Boult was incredible for Mumbai during the last few years. Why didn’t they rehire him is beyond any reasonable reason. Bumrah is usually at his best when he has support at the other end. It can be said just about any bowler. Bumrah is no different.
Statistics reveals the whole sad story
The IPL statistics must raise alarm in the Mumbai Indians ranks. It reveals the entire story. In the list for most runs scored and most wickets taken, there isn’t a single batsman or bowler from Mumbai in the top 10. Bumrah is at the 18th position amongst bowlers and Ishan is at the 13th position amongst the batsmen. No wonder, they lost more than half of their games.
Conclusion to review of Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022
It is anybody’s guess whether MI will be able to raise from this debacle. Archer, eventhough he may play next year, may not be that effective. Perhaps, ECB will want him to skip IPL to prepare for Ashes. All of this is only if he is fit. The rest of the team will be the same until the next auction when MI will hope to pick up wisely.
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