IPL 2014 - Match 1: Was it a blip, or a sign of things to come for the Mumbai Indians?

Lots to ponder for the defending IPL champions

The defending IPL champions, Mumbai Indians (MI), got off to the worst possible start to their title defence with a colossal 41-run morale-sapping defeat against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Having lost the toss and forced to field, the first half of the KKR innings went according to plan for Rohit Sharma and Co., and it wasn’t until the 15th over when the veteran from South Africa, Jacques Kallis, decided to take matter into his own hands and carted Pragyan Ojha for 20 runs, thereby triggering a shift in the momentum of the KKR innings.

In the end, it would prove to be a masterstroke, though, for KKR and Gambhir to persist with Kallis opening the batting, and letting him set the tempo of the innings.

Continues to garner runs, and was a solid man-of-the-match display

The Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowling efforts were a peach of their own, and Gambhir played around with his spin trio of Shakib Al-Hassan, Sunil Narine, and Piyush Chawla, all three making sure that Mumbai Indians were starved for lack of pace to conjure up something. With KKR inflicting such a massive defeat in terms of runs and performance, it has put forward a serious question to the Mumbai Indians’ outfit – was it a minor blip, or is it a sign of things to come for the defending IPL champions?

Mumbai Indians, having made a few changes to the dynamics of their squad in the past IPL auctions, looked like they had a selection conundrum ahead of their 1st game against KKR. Termed by many a cricket pundit as a squad that is lacking in depth, Mumbai Indians vindicated all of those allegations by coming up with an insipid display, which could well be an indication of what this side might offer going forward.

I thought that the batting order, barring Rohit Sharma’s decision to demote himself, was right and the only way to go. Rohit Sharma coming in at no.4 meant that the asking rate had already crossed 10 runs per over mark, and the surface on offer did play a bit vaguely for a batsman just coming in to face the music. Ambati Rayudu batting at the other end struggled to turn the heat on the KKR bowlers who were hardly ever challenged, but bowled splendidly well to keep a lid on the free-scoring batsmen that MI possess.

The pace of a T20 game is such that you can forget some of the key elements, which could have been a game-changer for a side. Personally, I felt that the pitch was a bit two-paced, and the sporadic grass covering on the surface resulted in steep bounce from the likes of Morne Morkel and Vinay Kumar. An inconsistent wicket made the target of 164 look a bit more like 184, but KKR’s bowling performance was out of the top drawer. The lanky South African fast bowler, Morne Morkel, hit the deck hard, and was literally unplayable with the kind of bounce he got from the surface.

Coming to the Mumbai Indians’ bowling performance, the experienced duo – Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga, did a good job, which resulted in just 46 runs from their 8 overs, and 5 wickets in the bargain. It was a routine T20 performance from Malinga, and Zaheer Khan gave a good account of himself by exploiting his entire repertoire on the KKR batsmen.

Coming to the spinners, and the indispensable overs from the all-rounders, I thought that the Mumbai Indians lost the game because of their spinners’ ineptness to tie the KKR batsmen down, and maybe even chip away with a wicket or two. Corey Anderson, who did so well with the ball against India when MS Dhoni’s men toured New Zealand earlier this year, went for 33 off his 3 overs, and he hardly looked like he belonged to the gargantuan stage that IPL is. His big-hitting skills – which made me think that he was going to be a marquee player this IPL season, went unjustified on the night, and it remains to be seen what he can come up with in the remainder of the season.

My advice for Rohit Sharma

If you are going to play two spinners in a T20 game, wickets are imperative from them – irrespective of how the wicket plays, or what the opposition batsmen are doing. Playing two spinners can be detrimental to a side, because it puts a massive pressure on the fast bowlers then to do the bulk of the job, and the two spinners, if they are going to prove in-effective, could very well be picked off, which is what happened last night. In that case, I’d play either Josh Hazlewood or Marchant De Lange in place of a spinner, and such a shift in personnel would mean that I’ll have to sacrifice one of my overseas options. Who would it be?

A forgettable debut for Corey Anderson

Having bought Michael Hussey, and having the need of a bit of experience at the top of the innings, he simply has to play. Pollard has been your talisman ever since he has been part of your side, Malinga is simply a must in any T20 side, and that makes for the 3/4 allowed overseas players in the playing XI. So maybe the axe will have to fall on Corey Anderson. Are MI willing to take that gamble? If Anderson continues to bowl so badly, the season could well be over in the UAE phase itself.

It’s going to be intriguing to see what the Mumbai Indians’ think-tank comes up with. There has to be something done about it. Lack of a prominent Indian talent in the batting department isn’t helping the cause either.

If you ask me, I’d say that it’s just the start of the season, and conclusions cannot be drawn on yesterday’s insipid display alone. But, finding the right team combination is imperative.

Further reiterating, yesterday’s defeat is just a blip, and there’s a long, long way to go for this magnificent MI family to buckle down, and throw in the towel on this season just yet.

Ala re Ala!