Mumbai Indians played well below their potential

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It wasn’t a happy Champions League for Indian teams. The only ones to hold the fort for the cricket-loving public of this country have been the Delhi Daredevils, whose fate will also be known by the time this article is published.

I have my doubt about how much interest was generated among people back home. This is one tournament which is also tough for broadcasters and this showed in the empty stands at the venues.
We all know the results of India’s tours of England and Australia — where they were beaten badly — and now three of the main teams didn’t qualify for the Champions League T20 semis.
Are these worrying signs for Indian cricket? Are Indian players missing a trick overseas? Are they slowly drifting away from the proud record they had in the last 10 years away from home? I will hold on to my views for a little bit longer and hope they quickly get back to their winning ways abroad but I must say these are worrying signs and need to be arrested soon.
Kolkata Knight Riders came into their mettle in the last game but it was too late by then. Gautam Gambhir was back among the runs but has been very inconsistent of late and more so in overseas conditions.
He was in great touch during the IPL and was a reason for his team’s success, but has been tested by the moving ball. The biggest problem for KKR was that their spin-heavy bowling attack did not get assistance from the tracks and hence did not manage to control the opposition.
The game that mattered for the KKR was the one against the Auckland Aces, where they did not get the bowling combination right. Dropping Brett Lee on that wicket in Cape Town for Shakib was not smart selection. In such tournaments if you lose back-to-back games then it becomes hard to get back in the competition, and with the rain coming in the third game it just put them out of the running.
The Indians generally take some time to settle in alien conditions and the games were so close to each other that they couldn’t acclimatise. To be honest, they looked below par in South Africa, till the last game and it had a lot to do with their shortcomings on quick tracks.
The batsmen did not show enough skills and temperament against pace and were found wanting in tough conditions.
As for the other two teams, Chennai and Mumbai, it was also about tackling pace and bounce. The Mumbai side had quite a few T20 powerhouses in their ranks but when the situation came for them to deliver, they faltered.
Mumbai for me were been a surprise. They have such high quality players in their squad, but looked like a team who play below their potential. I think the level of expectations on that squad is huge.
They have a big pool of support staff and hence seem to play under a lot of pressure. The point here is that do they need so many people in such a small tournament? They rather need to get flair and the X-factor back in the squad, rather than that regime and the players in the XI are enough to do that. In cricket, responsibility needs to be put on the players as they matter the most.
Also the form of Sachin Tendulkar did not help as he is a massive player in that side. They needed to play carefree cricket to succeed but struggled to get a start in their games and that put a lot of pressure on the middle order.
Even in their match against Chennai, Bhajji’s team looked to be shut out of the game at the beginning and it was a late resurgence of Dinesh Kartik which brought them back.
Amongst the Indians, Suresh Raina has found a way to succeed in the format.
(360 Corporate Relations)