Mumbai Indians: Far away from being good but no where near the worst

Four wins and two narrow losses from six matches and Mumbai Indians at the top of the table. Would’ve been quite a cheerful IPL 2022 for MI fans, except if the table and the match schedule were upside down. More than half of the season had passed for the record champions with a win tantalizingly close as a mirage in a desolate desert.

After losing eight on the trot, it was easy to write off Rohit Sharma’s side as a husk of their previous selves. They had lost their core group player Hardik Pandya to Gujarat Titans even before the auction began while his brother Krunal went to Lucknow Super Giants. They had to pay a premium to get back Ishan Kishan (Rs 15.25 crore) which was not unusual. They got back Kieron Pollard besides some exciting overseas acquisitions like Daniel Sams, Fabian Allen, Tim David and Riley Meredith but the end product was patchy.

Patchy is a better return than nothing and the despite ending the campaign at the rock bottom, their improvement in the final few matches would’ve made it feel less humiliating.

Opening duds

The auction was lukewarm by their standards, but squad on the paper suggested no weaknesses, besides the absence of Pandya brothers. However, the question of combinations plagued MI just like it did for the other older teams who entered the mega auction with a disadvantage. 

Then there was the price tag worth a boulder’s weight around Kishan’s neck. The left hander started off well with two fifties but his confidence plummeted so quickly that the questions were back at him. Kishan managed just 90 runs from the next seven innings and more importantly his opening partnerships with Rohit Sharma fizzled out. The left-hand right-hand combination managed four 50-plus partnerships and on 12 occasions, one of them was dismissed before the score touched 30 runs. Only twice did they bat at a strike rate excess of 150, which further bogged down their top order.

Adding to their headaches was a nagging injury to Suryakumar Yadav before the tournament began which put their middle order at sea. Fortunately for MI, Yadav returned after the first two matches and did well, but MI’s batting performances were subpar at best. They heavily banked on couple of individual performances every match which took too long to gel together.

Bowling muddle

Despite their batting relying on ragtag efforts from across the order, MI’s confusion with the usage of their bowling resources resulted in a catastrophe. They had the guile of Trent Boult and the pace of Jasprit Bumrah in the powerplay in the previous seasons. But with no one good enough to replace Boult, who went to Rajasthan Royals, and Bumrah going wicketless for seven games put a wrench in their plans.

Tymal Mills went at 11.2 runs per over from his 17 overs across five matches, while Riley Meredith barely got enough time to prove himself from the first three games he played. Daniel Sams, the hyped-up death bowling expert, hit rock bottom when fellow Australian Pat Cummins bludgeoned him for 35 runs in a single over. They kept faith in Basil Thampi during this time, but the Kerala pacer did little to support his inclusion by conceding over 9.5 RPO. When he did bowl well, like his 0-15 from three overs against KKR, Cummins ripped apart the others.

In the spin department, they experimented with Fabian Allen against Lucknow Super Giants, but the young West Indian proved too inexperienced for the sub-continental pitches as KL Rahul hit him all across the park. The likes of Mayank Markande, Kumar Kartikeya and Hrithik Shokeen got their chances but did not have much scope to impact the season besides playing for pride.

Silver Linings

Tilak Varma stands tall

Every time, MI found themselves in trouble or looked to heading towards a tough situation, 19-year old Tilak Varma was always there to put on the rescue act. The teenager amassed 397 runs from 14 innings at an average of 36 at a strike rate of 131. The Hyderabad left-hander’s composure in crunch situations were far more impressive than his numbers which are outstanding for a debutant.

While he played a quickfire 61 off 33 balls against RR in the early stages, his ability to read the situation was evident when he scored 34 not out off 32 balls in a low-scoring thriller against Chennai Super Kings. India and MI captain Rohit Sharma is sure that Varma will be an all-format player for India very soon which hints that the franchise will look to groom him for the future.

The presence of South African youngsters Dewald Brevis and Tristan Stubbs also offers MI a good sight at a strong middle-order for the next few seasons.

Late revival

No matter how poor or substandard they were in the first half of the season, MI’s commendable displays at the toe end were mostly down to their good bowling performances and one inspired change in the middle order. Even though they came a little too late, playing for pride helped MI to restore some lost morale within its ranks.

Singaporean Tim David, who has been in demand for franchises across the world, was brought back against RR after being benched until mid-season. As it would turn out, his unbeaten 9-ball 20 helped the team break their duck. The right-hander’s strike rate of 144.4 against KKR was the lowest since then and his unbeaten blitz of 44 against table-toppers Gujarat Titans further showed what MI were missing in the lower middle-order. 

It was too bizarre why MI benched David after just two innings despite his burgeoning reputation as a T20 expert. His performances will give them faith to make him an indispensable component from next season.

In the same match against the Titans, Mumbai’s beleaguered Daniel Sams found his mojo as he defended 9 runs off the final over. Even impressive was that the same bowler, who was taken to cleaners by an occasional batter like Cummins, cramped up David Miller and Rahul Tewatia - two of the best finishers in the tournament. 

Since coming back into the team, Sams claimed 4-30 against CSK and followed it up with 1-40 against LSG, 1-32 in the win against RR. Meanwhile, Bumrah roared back to form with a three-wicket maiden against KKR and Kishan found his fearless self with three 40-plus scores and a fifty in the home stretch.

Matches they will rue losing

With 45 runs to win against SRH, Tim David unleashed on T. Natarajan as he took the left-armer’s 18th over for 26 runs. MI could’ve won that quite easily had David resisted a single off the final ball in the same over. Natarajan collected the ball which was hit straight back at him and removed the bails. Bhuvneshwar Kumar then bowled a wicket-maiden and Fazalhaq Farooqi gave away 15 runs but MI were three runs short.

On a sticky DY Patil wicket, MI managed to put on 155/7 in 20 overs after Tilak Varma scored an unbeaten 51 off 43. CSK batters had struggles of their own as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals before MS Dhoni rekindled his love for finishing games. Defending 19 off the final over, Jaydev Unadkat removed Dwayne Pretorius off the first ball but Dhoni hit him for a six and couple of boundaries as a win sneaked past MI.