TALKING POINTS
Follow UsMI, CSK continue to be winless
Two most successful franchises in the history of IPL, Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings extending their winless streak to four matches each was the most discussed facet of the past week in IPL 2022. Mumbai played two games and Chennai appeared in one. Fans expected the two teams to bounce back in the second week. However, both teams sunk further while the margin of their defeats rendered their chances glimmer.
There is a clear pattern in their defeats. Mumbai have struggled to frame a decent playing XI in both games. As Bangalore pushed Mumbai closer to their fourth successive defeat, a stat floated around social media underlining Mumbai’s struggle in the year of mega-auction. Experts concluded that they take time to get used to a new combination. But there is more to that.
Mumbai’s stubbornness to sign Ishan Kishan and Jofra Archer, for which they shed nearly half of their budget in the mega-auction, left them with subpar options to fill various crucial spots. Most noticeably, they lack a prominent all-rounder in their squad which is limiting their batting resources. The lack of form of the retained players - Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Kieron Pollard - hasn’t helped the case either. Hence, it isn’t a surprise that the five-time champions look befuddled. In their last match against Bangalore, they played only two overseas players with the likes of Tim David, Riley Meredith, Fabian Allen and Tymal Mills on the bench. Just didn’t make any sense.
In a similar vein, the defending champions are looking clueless as well. They retained a majority of their core but the same pieces that took them to the trophy last year haven’t come together in the ongoing season. Chennai’s bowling has been exposed and the dearth of an outright wicket-taking option is clearly visible. At the same time, none of their frontline batters average above 30. They were completely outclassed by Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last game to go bottom of the table.
It is easy to attribute this to the change in captaincy but in reality, all the potential cons of the classic Chennai strategy have surfaced at once.
Lack of balance not a worry
Rajasthan Royals, Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders occupy the top three positions on the points table. Surprisingly, none of the three sides were assigned the favorites tag owing to some obvious voids in their setup. But in stark contrast with the fortunes of Mumbai and Chennai, a lot has clicked for the aforementioned trio.
For Kolkata, Umesh Yadav’s red-hot form with the new ball has absorbed the risk of an unconvincing fifth bowling option. Shubman Gill has carried Gujarat’s shaky batting structure alongside Rahul Tewatia who is providing the finishing touch twice in three games. Hardik Pandya’s consistent returns as a bowler have upscaled an already decent bowling line-up.
For Rajasthan, the star power has stepped up. The lack of a prominent all-rounder meant their specialists had to go the extra mile. The fact that Jos Buttler has the Orange Cap while Yuzvendra Chahal is the holder of the Purple Cap tells you everything. Shimron Hetmyer’s impact has been beyond the numbers. He has prevented the opposition from taking advantage of Rajasthan’s lack of batting resources. The bowling pair of Prasidh Krishna and Trent Boult has consistently fed the side with new ball wickets. With everyone doing their role well, Rajasthan have emerged as the dark horse of the season.
Captains 'not' leading from the front
Most sides have a high-profile batter yet to hit the straps. Mayank Agarwal averages only 10.5 in four innings this season. It is a horror number for a batter who was promoted to captaincy after fantastic preceding two seasons (average 39.3).
Mayank isn’t the only skipper in this list though. Rishabh Pant, Faf du Plessis and Rohit Sharma have been underwhelming too. Pant and du Plessis have played more knocks of negative impact than causing a productive effect with the bat. Pant opened the gates for Gujarat with a reckless stroke in a game that his team should have won otherwise. du Plessis, after a brilliant 88 in the first match, has scored only 49 runs in three innings. Being the senior link to RCB’s opening pair, his powerplay strike-rate this year lingers at 81.8. The captains are just not leading from the front.
The team suffering the most from this trend is Mumbai Indians. Playing with a long tail makes it imperative for them to squeeze everything out of their truncated batting line-up. That is why uninspiring returns from a batting resource like Rohit Sharma are hurting Mumbai a lot more this season. The skipper averages 20 this season striking at 125. For Mumbai to turn it around, Rohit’s form is vital.
The revival
While the star batters have underperformed, there is a crop of forgotten bowlers devising a revival. Umesh Yadav had only 8 IPL wickets over the last three seasons. This year, he has snaffled 10 wickets already in five matches. Similarly, Kuldeep Yadav managed only 5 wickets since 2019. This season, he is the MVP of Delhi’s bowling, pouching 10 scalps in four games.
Yuzvendra Chahal was ignored for the T20 World Cup but has been top-notch ever since. He has solidified his position further this season in the Indian setup. Chahal currently holds the Orange Cap, taking 11 wickets at 9.5 runs apiece. He has been Rajasthan’s most threatening bowling asset in each match.
Interestingly, Chahal was replaced by Rahul Chahar in the T20 World Cup squad and has replaced him in the T20Is that India have played since then. Chahar hasn’t been as prolific as Chahal but the 22-year old has kept himself relevant with 7 wickets in four games. He has an admirable economy rate of 6.3 runs per over despite featuring in some high scoring games.
Consequently, the top wicket-takers tally of the season is crowded by Indian bowlers with a point to prove.
The double-header on Sunday saw the finest example of the same. Kuldeep and Chahal were the player-of-the-match award winners after picking a 4-wicket haul each. It was a sweet reminder of the Kul-Cha days that scripted many victories for India between 2017 and 2019 with the two bowlers forming a dominating spin duo for India.
*All stats until Match 20
