What Went Wrong for the 4 teams that missed out on the IPL Playoffs
The IPL round robin fixtures came to an end today with Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals securing their playoff berths. However, the tournament has finished for the bottom four teams, Kings XI Punjab, Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
So just what went wrong for the four eliminated franchises. Lets take a look.
#4 Mumbai Indians
The elimination of MI is the toughest to explain. The side has no obvious weaknesses and ticks virtually all the boxes you would want in a team. Explosive openers, all-rounders, finishers and excellent end over bowlers in Bumrah and Rehman, but they still failed to get through.
The first reason for MI's elimination was the lack of spinners. Mayank Markande enjoyed a great start to the IPL but eventually fell away as the tournament went on and went through a rather quiet spell for a while. MI didn't have anyone else in the squad to fall back on and this proved costly, especially given how big an impact spinners made in the tournament.
Another reason was the lack of clarity regarding Rohit Sharma's role. Rohit's mettle as a white ball opener is beyond question. Even with such a proven record MI were reluctant to get Rohit to open and opted to go with the pair of Lewis and Yadav. Rohit's firepower was definitely missed at the top of the order, especially as this was Lewis' 1st season in the IPL and an opener like Rohit by his side would have helped Lewis well.
The form of Mustafizur Rehman was another undoing of MI. He was someone that MI were really banking on to deliver and his lack of form meant MI had to rely on Mitch McClenaghan who wasn't even initially picked in the auction.