When the two new franchises were announced for the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League, it was fascinating to watch. which chief Indian cricketer would be handpicked by which team. There was an assortment of players available, thanks to the retention rules.
The most successful franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is Mumbai Indians (MI). The Mumbai-based franchise has won the title of Champions a record number of five times in IPL history, all under the capable leadership of Rohit Sharma.
However, the 15th season has crossed the halfway mark already Mumbai Indians have lost their first eight games of this IPL season and now are at the bottom of the league. This means the paltan may end up being eliminated at the league stage itself.
Well in this article we will discuss the Top three mistakes that landed the franchise in this predicament in the first place:
1. Overreliance on Bumrah:
The MI bowling lineup consists of Jasprit Bumrah, Basil Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat, Tilak Varma,, and Daniel Sams. other than Mills and the workhorse Burmah the rest of the bowlers have been lackluster in performance. The wickets during the power play are the most crucial in T20 cricket. So far in the season, the only threat to the opposition has been Jusprit Bumrah. Most teams just stick to playing out Bumrah safely. In this season Unadkat and Sams both have failed to meet expectations as compared to the last couple of years.
We have all witnessed the MI vs LSG matches this season, there is a huge lack of Spinners to keep the likes of KL Rahul in check. KL Rahul was in great form the whole match.
Jaydev Unadkat bowling stats.
| Bowling Stats | ||||||||||
| year | Mat | Balls | Runs | WKTS | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4W | 5W |
| Career | 91 | 1896 | 2778 | 91 | 5/25 | 30.53 | 8.79 | 20.84 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 5 | 120 | 190 | 6 | 2/32 | 31.67 | 9.5 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 6 | 132 | 168 | 4 | 3/15 | 42 | 7.63 | 33 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 7 | 138 | 228 | 4 | 2/32 | 57 | 9.91 | 34.5 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 11 | 224 | 398 | 10 | 2/26 | 39.8 | 10.66 | 22.4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 15 | 302 | 486 | 11 | 3/46 | 44.18 | 9.65 | 27.45 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 12 | 275 | 322 | 24 | 5/30 | 13.41 | 7.02 | 11.45 | 0 | 1 |
Daniel Sams bowling stats:
| Bowling | ||||||||||
| Year | Mat | Balls | Runs | WKTS | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4W | 5W |
| Career | 10 | 222 | 362 | 7 | 4/30 | 51.71 | 9.78 | 31.71 | 1 | 0 |
| 2022 | 5 | 114 | 209 | 6 | 4/30 | 34.83 | 11 | 19 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021 | 2 | 36 | 39 | 1 | 1/24 | 39 | 6.5 | 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 3 | 72 | 114 | 0 | 0/30 | – | 9.5 | – | 0 | 0 |
Jasprit Bumrah stats:
| Bowling | ||||||||||
| Year | Mat | Balls | Runs | WKTS | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4W | 5W |
| Career | 114 | 2604 | 3224 | 135 | 4/14 | 23.88 | 7.43 | 19.29 | 2 | 0 |
| 2022 | 8 | 182 | 229 | 5 | 3/17 | 45.8 | 7.55 | 36.4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 14 | 330 | 410 | 21 | 3/36 | 19.52 | 7.45 | 15.71 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 15 | 360 | 404 | 27 | 4/14 | 14.96 | 6.73 | 13.33 | 2 | 0 |
| 2019 | 16 | 370 | 409 | 19 | 3/20 | 21.52 | 6.63 | 19.47 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 14 | 324 | 372 | 17 | 3/15 | 21.88 | 6.88 | 19.05 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 16 | 356 | 439 | 20 | 3/7 | 21.95 | 7.39 | 17.8 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | 14 | 312 | 406 | 15 | 3/13 | 27.06 | 7.8 | 20.8 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | 4 | 90 | 184 | 3 | 1/38 | 61.33 | 12.26 | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | 11 | 238 | 301 | 5 | 2/22 | 60.2 | 7.58 | 47.6 | 0 | 0 |
| 2013 | 2 | 42 | 70 | 3 | 3/32 | 23.33 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
2. Ishan and Surya need to bring back their mojo.
Frankly speaking, it’s not just the bowling department that is lackluster, the batting side in the Mumbai camp is also struggling in the middle overs. They get a good start in the powerplay but struggle in the middle overs and lose wickets left and right. Leaving a lot to be desired since it’s costing them the game be it chasing or batting. The MI fans have a lot riding on the three powerhouses Hitman, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakumar Yadav.
Akash Chopra said in his podcast “Dewald Brevis bats at number 3 and he did well against LSG in their previous clash. Suryakumar Yadav has been playing well, but what can he do alone? Kieron Pollard isn’t scoring at all. Their balance is completely off. They have 6 batters, out of which nobody bowls, except Pollard and Tilak Verma. Hritik Shokeen did bat well in the last match, but I found his bowling to be just okay.”
Ishan Kishan’s Batting Stats
| IPL Batting Stats | |||||||||||||
| Year | Mat | No | Runs | HS | Avg | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s | CT | ST |
| Career | 69 | 6 | 1651 | 99 | 28.47 | 1249 | 132.19 | 0 | 11 | 143 | 77 | 23 | 2 |
| 2022 | 8 | 1 | 199 | 81* | 28.43 | 184 | 108.15 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| 2021 | 10 | 1 | 241 | 84 | 26.77 | 180 | 133.88 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 10 | 3 | 0 |
| 2020 | 14 | 4 | 516 | 99 | 57.33 | 354 | 145.76 | 0 | 4 | 36 | 30 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019 | 7 | 0 | 101 | 28 | 16.83 | 100 | 101 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| 2018 | 14 | 0 | 275 | 62 | 22.91 | 184 | 149.45 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 17 | 9 | 2 |
| 2017 | 11 | 0 | 277 | 61 | 27.7 | 206 | 134.46 | 0 | 1 | 29 | 13 | 3 | 0 |
| 2016 | 5 | 0 | 42 | 27 | 8.4 | 41 | 102.43 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
The talented Ishan Kishan began IPL 2022 in an impressive fashion with two half-centuries to his name. But in the last couple of matches, the Wicketkeeper cum Batter has been unsuccessful at doing much. Everyone is aware of Ishan’s incredible talent, especially the management at MI.
Who did not want to let him go spending a whopping 15.25 crore (The highest bids in the IPl history)? Is this the biggest blunder? or will he live up to his expectations and prove worthy of his tag. So far the fans are still divided. let us know what you think
Just like Ishan, Suryakumar also needs to perform at the top of his game. He started off with a stellar performance, securing two half-centuries, and is looking in great form. But even if the powerplay goes well, the weak middle and lower order have dragged them to a standstill. so both of them will have to come up with something amazing to balance that out.
Suryakumar Yadav Batting Stats
| IPL Batting Stats | |||||||||||||
| Year | Mat | No | Runs | HS | Avg | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s | CT | ST |
| Career | 121 | 20 | 2580 | 82 | 30.35 | 1883 | 137.02 | 0 | 15 | 279 | 81 | 57 | 0 |
| 2022 | 6 | 1 | 239 | 68* | 47.8 | 158 | 151.27 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 13 | 2 | 0 |
| 2021 | 14 | 0 | 317 | 82 | 22.64 | 221 | 143.43 | 0 | 2 | 40 | 10 | 5 | 0 |
| 2020 | 16 | 3 | 480 | 79* | 40 | 331 | 145.01 | 0 | 4 | 61 | 11 | 8 | 0 |
| 2019 | 16 | 2 | 424 | 71* | 32.61 | 324 | 130.86 | 0 | 2 | 45 | 10 | 9 | 0 |
| 2018 | 14 | 0 | 512 | 72 | 36.57 | 384 | 133.33 | 0 | 4 | 61 | 16 | 8 | 0 |
| 2017 | 10 | 1 | 105 | 31 | 17.5 | 88 | 119.31 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| 2016 | 15 | 4 | 182 | 60 | 26 | 143 | 127.27 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| 2015 | 13 | 4 | 157 | 46* | 17.44 | 113 | 138.93 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| 2014 | 16 | 5 | 164 | 34 | 32.8 | 117 | 140.17 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 5 | 7 | 0 |
| 2012 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
3. Lack of experienced replacements for the Pandya brothers.
Both the players are doing very well for their new respective franchises while replacements are struggling to fill their shoes. The all-rounder Daniel Sams picked up right after Hardik. However after three matches of poor death bowling and poor batting.
MI could have gotten away with a tail-ender line in one of the games and a depth in batting in the other. But they still lack strength in the other aspect. Just look at the youngster Tilak Verma who isn’t a slogger by any stretch like Krunal. He also doesn’t give MI the 3-4 overs that Krunal used to regularly.
Bonus The captain himself:
Rohit Sharma is the captain of the national team. He has led Mumbai to four titles, two as deputy and others as its captain. Winning a lot of hearts and minds as he scored centuries. This IPL season though the Hitman seems to be in poor form and is struggling with his role as captain and batsman. Along with Kishan, Bumrah, he is the core of cricketers looking to play the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.
If they want to bring the cup home. they definitely need to get their mojo back also addressing form, fitness, and mental health amongst other pressing concerns.
From the perspective of Indian cricket. The first concern about Rohit at present is his leadership. After 14 years of failure at T20 World Cups, the most recent being in the UAE in 2021, he was seen as the big hope for the Australian edition this year. What happens to that thought now?
Would you really follow someone at the World Cup whose franchise team suffered eight consecutive losses? We all know A captain is only as good as his team. It is tough to say whether it’s bad form or the pressure from these defeats is getting to him. In the first game of this edition, Hitman scored 41 at 129 SR and Mumbai’s loss to Delhi Capitals seemed insignificant at the time.
Since then, he has crossed 25 only thrice in seven innings. Sometimes it looks as if he is trying to force the runs, or trying to play that immaculate shot that could help break the spell and release his team’s troublesome streak. But on Sunday night, Rohit appeared a shadow of his usual self.
He isn’t the same marquee force in franchise cricket, as he is for the Indian national team. But when you have suffered eight consecutive losses, and are struggling to find a solution even once. The matter may no longer be in his hands now.
Read More:
DC vs KKR Live Streaming IPL 2022 (Match 41): When And Where To Watch, Match Details
Sanju Samson Is Wasting Good Form For International Return – Ian Bishop
