Rohit's rendezvous with destiny a silver lining on MI's wooden spoon
A collective exasperated sigh reverberated around the Wankhede when Rohit Sharma lobbed a delivery off Ravi Bishnoi straight into the hands of short third man. As soon as he mistimed his shot, the batter dropped his head in disbelief and stood at the crease with his shoulders bent down in agony.
Distraught, the Mumbai Indians (MI) opener began to trudge back to the pavilion, and gradually, the pin-drop silence from the Wankhede faithful disappeared amidst a thunderous round of applause. The crowd gave a standing ovation, saluting their former captain, with many wondering whether they saw him depart for the last time in Blue and Gold.
For a moment, it almost seemed like no one cared what the match situation was or what the Mumbai Indians' position in the points table was. The chants of "Rohit, Rohit!" took over and it almost seemed like destiny had brought the universe to a standstill so that Mumbai cha Raja could have his moment.
What was going on in his mind as he made his way back? The reader's guess is as good as the writer's. No one knew what was next. But his blazing knock of 68 extracted an emotion that seemed to be missing at MI's fortress all season.
Rohit Sharma turned back the clock to light up Wankhede
6,8,4,11,4,19 - These scores in the past few IPL innings wouldn't have inspired anyone who was a massive admirer of Rohit Sharma, especially with the 2024 T20 World Cup on the horizon. Questions on his form kept on getting bigger with each failure and that talks of his future with MI wouldn't have helped the angst of fans one bit.
A leading edge from Rohit off Arshad Khan's delivery almost bisected the gap between the short third man and the point region. On any other day, with the form that the opener had been in, that would have been straight into the basket with the former MI captain walking back for a duck. However, that one delivery gave the slice of luck that Rohit and the 33,000 gathered in the Wankhede needed.
A cracking pull shot for a six over mid-wicket, followed by another maximum down the ground off Matt Henry saw Rohit Sharma get going and had the entire stadium on its feet. The target of 215 did play a role in freeing Rohit up, but his strokeplay was like a breath of fresh air to the MI fans who were rooting for the opener to come good.
While Dewald Brevis struggled at one end, Rohit continued on his merry way at the other and the batter who had been struggling to get into double digits had suddenly disappeared. The roar from the crowd and Rohit's confidence with each shot seemed to be the perfect marriage that brought the Wankhede back to life.
The showstopper of Rohit's knock was the one where he danced down the track and hit a six straight down the ground off Mohsin Khan to bring up his half-century. While Rohit had a rather subdued celebration, the emotions of his wife Ritika painted a picture of how tough things probably would have been off-field for the opener.
The writer was present in the stadium and got to capture the emotions of the crowd during Rohit's innings. While there was a sense of frustration on MI's performance, his boundaries and sixes provided the regular burst of ecstasy for the beleaguered fans. It was like a consolation for them that they could witness their former captain turn back the clock and show that he still had it in him.
Despite Rohit's heroics, MI's capitulation had an air of inevitability about it
The great Albert Einstein had said that Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results and Mumbai's performance against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) nicely summed up why they deserved to end with a wooden spoon.
MI tried the experiment of opening with Dewald Brevis and pushed Ishan Kishan to No.4. It helped neither of them as Brevis scored 23 runs off 20 balls, while Ishan accumulated just 14 runs in his 15 deliveries. When the margin of defeat was just 18 runs, one may wonder whether Mumbai would have lost the game had they not overcomplicated the batting order with the same players.
Suryakumar Yadav picked out a fielder with his favorite sweep shot for a duck. This is similar to what happened during the game against the Chennai Super Kings where he played an uppercut and was caught at third man off Matheesha Pathirana.
Hardik Pandya almost giving catching practice to the third man after a couple of promising shots once again highlights another main reason for MI's failure in a nutshell. The big names were just not consistent enough together to pack a punch. Naman Dhir's 62 off 28 proved to be another consolation for the frustrated MI fans.
MI's issues in the bowling throughout the season had been well documented by the writer. Nuwan Thushara ended up with brilliant figures of 3/28, yet he was someone who had to wait half the season for his first opportunity.
Getting Arjun Tendulkar out of the attack when the youngster was in the groove and troubling Marcus Stoinis was again a baffling bowling change from Hardik Pandya, one of the many examples throughout the season.
It seemed like only Rohit and Naman had turned up to put in a fight with the bat. The team management didn't consider Romario Shepherd good enough to bat in the top 7. The same Romario Shepherd, who had torn into Anrich Nortje to give Mumbai their first win of the season. The more one dissects it, the more one is left scratching his head for answers.
What's next for MI?
If ever the Mumbai Indians needed a reality check, finishing with the wooden spoon twice in three seasons is the perfect wake-up call one would have hoped for to get things back on track. The head coach Mark Boucher also accepted in the post-match press conference that the outside noise on Hardik Pandya taking over as captain affected the dressing room.
It was the move that could have gone either way and for MI's sake, it couldn't have gone any south. The three-year cycle felt the tremors of the IPL 2022 mega auction where Mumbai uncharacteristically splurged huge money on certain individuals, going away from what had worked for them over the years - forming a well-rounded team.
While MI would have been disappointed with the previous mega auction breaking their team, within three years of that, they find themselves in a situation where a rebuild may not be a bad idea. This is a massive reality check for a team that has always had a good Indian core and believed in backing players.
So who goes and who stays? Does Hardik the captain get sacked? Or does Boucher the coach lose his job? Does Rohit Sharma move on to another team? Does he get retained? Or does he retire from the IPL? Too many questions and a proper inquest are needed for MI if they want to return to their glory days anytime soon.
Rohit Sharma's focus, meanwhile, will fully be on the T20 World Cup beginning next month. There have been mixed reactions to his return to the shortest format and understandably so given his struggles in the past few T20 World Cup campaigns. However, the innings against LSG would certainly keep him in good stead.
It will also give the fans some hope that maybe, just maybe Rohit will turn the tide in India blue as well. They may feel that this would be the tournament where the Indian captain defies the odds and produces another masterclass.
The Wankhede crowd tasted yet another bitter dose of MI's downward spiral from the wooden spoon they received. However, Rohit Sharma's blitz acted as a sweetener as most may have begun their journey home thinking, 'If this was the last dance, what a dance it was!''