3 major tactical blunders in MI's IPL 2022 campaign
The Mumbai Indians (MI) have had a shockingly poor Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 campaign, unarguably their worst season in the tournament till date. Over the course of a forgettable run, they created a dubious record of becoming the first franchise in IPL history to lose their first eight matches of the season. MI have won a couple of matches since then but it was already too late as they became the first IPL team to be eliminated from the playoff race.
Most critics have pointed to the team’s poor auction performance as one of the major reasons behind their downfall this year. The decision to purchase Ishan Kishan for a whopping ₹15.25 crore and Jofra Archer for ₹8 crore, despite knowing the latter would not be available for this season, has been questioned by many.
IPL 2022: What MI could have done better
While a disappointing auction has been a major contributing factor to Mumbai’s underwhelming show, the franchise made matters worse for themselves with some poor decision-making. Here are three tactical blunders by the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022.
#1 Dropping game-changer Tim David too early
MI purchased big-hitter Tim David with a lot of fanfare at the mega auction, spending ₹8.25 crore on him. They promoted him heavily on their social media handles as well ahead of the competition.
However, when it came to the actual contest, they dropped David from the playing XI after just two matches. He scored 12 and one in the two games against the Delhi Capitals (DC) and the Rajasthan Royals (RR) respectively. Undoubtedly, he deserved at least one more game to prove himself.
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By the time he returned to the playing XI for the match against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on April 30, it was a bit too late as MI were all but knocked out of the playoffs race. David has proved his worth since comeback though. He smacked an unbeaten 20 off nine balls in a pressure chase against RR.
David followed it up with 44* off 21 deliveries in a match-winning cause against the Gujarat Titans (GT). Just as Chennai would be regretting dropping Devon Conway too early, MI would have similar feelings over David.
#2 Holding back Riley Meredith for too long
While Mumbai erred in giving up on David too early, they made an equally poor decision of delaying Riley Meredith’s entry into the playing XI. Mumbai’s bowling has not been their strong suit this season (neither has been their batting) but ever since Meredith came in, he has given an edge to the bowling attack.
Significantly, Jasprit Bumrah too has looked a lot more effective since the Australian speedster came into the equation.
Meredith, 25, has made a visible impact since being drafted into the MI playing XI. In five matches so far, he has claimed five wickets at an average of 31.20 and an economy rate of 8.21. He has bowled with pace and has been successful in troubling some batters as well. Meredith played a key role to play in Mumbai’s first victory of the season, claiming two for 24 as MI restricted RR to 158 for six.
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#3 Sticking to non-performing players
While Mumbai delayed entry to players sitting on the bench, they gave a few too many chances to some despite consistent failures. Pacer Basil Thampi had one good game in which he claimed three wickets but picked up a total of only five scalps in five matches.
He was pedestrian and had an unacceptable economy rate of 9.50. Left-arm seamer Tymal Mills also played five games for Mumbai and claimed six wickets at an economy rate which was even worse - 11.18. Ditto for Jaydev Unadkat, who picked up six scalps in five games at an economy of 9.50.
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While one can understand the reason for sticking with Kieron Pollard, since he is a proven performer, the above choices were somewhat incomprehensible. The current MI attack looks a lot more balanced. Daniel Sams has proved his class after a shocking start to the tournament.
The spin duo of Murugan Ashwin and Kumar Kartikeya have turned out to be wicket-taking options. When he has played, young Hrithik Shokeen has also contributed with both the bat and ball.
Somewhere between picking players and dropping them, Mumbai lost their fine balance. By the time they found the same, it was all too late.