After a couple of good results, Mumbai Indians are back to square one in desperate situation. They do not have anything or anyone else to blame but themselves.
The most sober line to express about MI’s loss against Rajasthan Royals in an IPL match on 14th May is – they made a mess out of it.
We would tempt ourselves to say that poor tactics of sending Takawale to open the innings with Bravo, poor tactics of having Sanath, Sachin & Duminy at 4, 5, 6 respectively. However, I agree with MI’s thinktank for the changes in batting order. I would like to emphatically say that Sanath, Sachin & Nayar were their best bet to attack the slow bowlers’ gang of Warne, Botha, Pathan & Jadeja in the middle overs.
Unfortunately, changes in batting order are not enough to win matches. If order is changed, batsmen need to have the crystal clear instructions about tackling various situations. And if they do have the right instructions, they need to religiously execute those. This is where we can not be sure about ‘what went wrong’. This is why I would not conclude whether it was a failure in tactics or execution.
Possible tactical failure –
Suppose, Takawale had the instructions to give a stand to Bravo. This is alright. But I guess, he was not very sure what he would do if Bravo failed. And if Takawale was asked to play the way he did even after Bravo’s early loss and Rahane coming in next, this is a pure tactical failure. If Sanath had come at 3, Takawale’s batting could still be justified.
Possible execution failure –
Suppose, Takawale was asked to give a brisk start, which he can do – this was a good surprise MI had planned. But Takawale failed to do that. My problem is not his strike rate, but the way he approached the innings. He played 22 balls and hardly attempted aggressive shots. This is an execution failure.
If they thought, Takawale would do an anchor role – I feel it is an extremely forgettable tactical mistake. However, I don’t think that was the case. Giving a stand to in-form Bravo for a few overs is fine but the way he batted after early loss of Bravo should have been different. Don’t know what instructions he had got, so don’t know whether it was a tactical or execution failure. Failure is failure and needs to be dealt with.
Easy to say and write this sitting in Bangalore having no obligations and stakes – but as a keen follower and lover of the game, it is difficult to be non-critic on such undesirable display by the most desirable personalities of the game.
No need to mention how good Munaf’s last over was and how good Warne is – high stakes match, bowling against Sachin and Sanath, and he gets both of them plus Rahane. How many times he has done this in important matches and God only knows how many times he will do it before he stops playing cricket.

Last week the prospect for the tournament was looking extremely dynamic with 7 out of 8 teams having opportunities to make it to top 4. Unfortunately, this week it does not look that great. Still a plenty of fun in the points table is possible – but may be only theoretically.
Week is set to separate top from bottom. What looks more likely is -
Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings are well set to grab the positions in semis. Kolkata Knight Riders have already occupied an unenviable (:)) position of no-stress and 2 teams Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore depend on others’ failures as much as on own success. They will cherish failures of Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers more than relishing their wins. If KXIP and DC do well in their next 2 games, MI and RCB would soon be fighting for 6th spot. Rajasthan Royals are in a spot of bother too; however I feel they are well equipped with Warne’s cricketing acumen to see them through.
I just had some fun calculating what can happen theoretically. Considered all the remaining matches and gave 2 points per match to the team which is lower in the points table than the other one at the moment – for example, RCB Vs KKR, calculated 2 points for KKR and 0 for RCB; MI Vs DD, 2 points for MI; DC Vs RR, 2 points to DC and so on. With this hypothetical (but not impossible at all) calculations what we may have in the end is – MI and KXIP in the semis and any 2 of DD, RCB & DC will qualify based on Net Run Rate.
Another extreme consideration like, DD & KKR lose all their matches, MI & RCB win all their matches, KXIP win all matches except against MI & RCB and for remaining matches same logic as above, we will see DD, CSK & RR not qualifying for semis.
Hypothesis! Hmm…what if it goes that way.
Can we hope for such scenarios? May be not. But also things are not so clear yet. We may still have a lot of fun hidden in this IPL-2. Let’s wait and watch what actually happens.

Well one more match it should have won but couldn’t! What a pity every time they put themselves in winning positions and find the way to lose.  Last year it happened in four matches at least; and this year again, the same author seems to be writing the script. This team reminds me of Indian team of 90s.Is this just simple plane bad luck? Frankly it’s not the case!  If we analysed those close defeats or defeats from winning positions, we can easily find weakness! For me The three major causes in Mumbai’s poor run  are.

1.       Lack of depth in batting: You cannot expect to chase down targets and win 20-20 matches if your five down batsman is Harbhajan! With due respect to his ability, look at other teams Bangalore has Virat Kohli at number 7 . Even Kolkatta has better batting depth ( do they know it ?) So after 6 wickets its all over for Mumbai! Forget about decent batting lower order can’t even slog ! So when its 40 required from 30 balls with four wickets remaining, Match seems to be already gone !

2.        Middle order not firing:  Abhishek Nayer seems to be confused regarding his role, Bravo doesn’t seem to be in best of touch, and sachin never had confidence on Rahane. Its not lack of class but lack of form. This is putting more pressure on J.P. If he gets out trying to force the pace there is no back up. Last year they were missing Mr. Cool in middle order and this year they are missing Mr. Hot! Swapping Uthappa is proving costly!

3.       Conservative top order:  20-20 is game of momentum. You don’t require to put 100 runs partnership each time you go in. You require confidant and smooth start, more so with Mumbai due to lack of depth. Both Sachin and Sanath were one man army for their respective teams for many years in one day cricket , but their conservative approach is not helping Mumbai at all . Odd failure is expected but you need to put opposition under pressure! When someone is bowling at 120 Kph  with new ball why Sachin is thinking about six singles in the over  ?

So what’s the way out ? You cannot change squad in middle of the tournament and its two early to start planning for next season! And as they say “lot of cricket is still left” !  Here onwards its tough mountain to climb but such unpredictable is the game , everything is possible. 

The way out …………..

·         Use your strengths smartly: Lets take example of Jaipur , how smartly they are using Yusuf ! What is Mumbai’s strength ? Its the Experience of Sachin , Sanath , Zaheer and Harbhajan . Mumbai at any cost should use sachin and Sanath effectively. If target is too low ( like 120 against Mohali ) there is no harm in keeping Sachin in the middle order. If top order fires that’s great , but if it doesn’t  Sachin can still make others bat around him , his presence in the middle will make sure panic will not be created ! I know there will be many eyebrows raised over this suggestion but in such a small game sometimes you need to pull rabbit out of hat!

·         Pinch hitters : Mumbai requires them because they don’t have six heaters in  middle overs . Pinal Shah was a wise choice in earlier match , Harbhajan can also be option .  

·         Choose in form players: Can they use Bangladesh’s Mohammad Ashraful in middle order resting Bravo? It might add pressure on bowling department but that’s not the prime concern at the moment.  Yogesh Takawale or Ajinkya Rahane or some other youngster needs to be given chance. (See case of Suman for Hyderabad ).

And if possible Win The toss and Bat first! Come on Sachin we want you in semis !

Due to the start of West Indies Vs England series and end of Pakistan Vs Australia series, we will see a few players out of IPL action and a few in. How much impact it may have on the teams, lets see what it looks like.
Deccan Chargers will have Andrew Symonds coming in and Fidel Edwards & Dwayne Smith leaving. Though the Hyderabad team will miss fire of Edwards in bowling, they have Chaminda Vaas in the squad, who can replace fire with wily class and accuracy. Dwayne Smith has done well recently, however, at least on the paper, they can’t ask for better replacement than Symonds. So, the change may not matter too much for the Deccan Chargers.
For Chennai Super Kings Andrew Flintoff has already left. He was not in great touch with both, bat and ball. In fact, he found himself at the receiving end as far as bowling is concerned. Therefore, CSK team is not missing him too much (or ‘at all’).
Kolkata Knight Riders will have David Hussey coming in and Chris Gayle going out. This is one of those neck-to-neck kinds of replacements to me. Should not make much difference for KKR. Did I hear somebody screaming ‘who cares’? Rightly so. KKR is now beyond the spot of bother. They have carved out a niche segment for themselves in this IPL, bottom of the points table.
Royal Challengers Bangalore will have Nathan Bracken in. Kevin Pietersen has already left. We have seen KP’s departure has not affected RCB at all as he did not do any memorable work. After KP left, RCB won both the matches.
Kings XI Punjab has James Hopes in and Ravi Bopara out. I think both players on paper look not much different in terms of impact they may have on the team. However, Bopara was in good touch, rather good frame of mind and has played one of the most delightful 20-20 innings this season. Don’t see Kings XI Punjab getting affected much as Hopes is a good player too.
For Delhi Daredevils Paul Collingwood and Owais Shah have already left. Both have not played any game in the IPL 2009. Also, I don’t see any reason why DD would have looked beyond Warner, Dilshan, DeVilliers, Nannes and Vettori for picking 4 foreign players. Dropping any one of them itself is a tough choice to make. No need to mention that departures will not cause any trouble for DD.
Rajasthan Royals will be boosted by Shane Watson’s arrival. This one change can have decent impact on the tournament. As he has shown before, Watson is a match winner with both bat and ball. Top order or middle order, wherever he bats, batting lineup of RR will get better with his inclusion. Without Watson, they have already scored 200+ in this tournament. Graeme Smith back in form, Yusuf Pathan doing well, Naman Ojha putting up a good show, Ravindra Jadeja looking in good touch – plus Watson. Hmm. Looks good for RR.
I feel with the changing compositions, barring Rajasthan Royals, no team will get much impacted – positively or negatively.

People who saw yesterday’s Ganguly innings must have seen the old determination, focus on his face. It wasn’t even a half century but a true Ganguly admirer or a hardcore Ganguly critic ( this number is huge ) must have felt that he is back to normal and not only to normal but he was even running pretty well in between the wickets and the sixes he hit to Munaf were awsome hits. One should remember that one of them was a pull of a short delivery and was a just shut up shot.

Media has always been “kind” with him when it comes to promote the controversies and critisism that he has been facing from the day he entered the international circuit… be it the drinks issue or opting out from a match, losing captaincy, losing his place from Indian team or the super duper hit Greg Chappel incident. After facing all this now SRK and John Buchanan have joined the band wagon.

 So having so many people including his boss to critisize him, he had a task cut out and that’s where I feel he is at his best. The innings I felt was very mature and very few people could have handled that pressure; generated more by Shane Warne’s delaying tactics of shuffling fielding after every ball and acting to be in a serious discussion with the bowler after each delivery than the target. Ganguly was the best possible person out there to handle all this.

SRK must have learnt a lot of things from Ganguly’s innings like one needs a mentally strong person to play in these coditions, there are lots of skills required other than just hitting sixers, taking wickets and having multiple captains. Having done all that Ganguly has given it back to SRK and Buchanan. So I would like to ask Mr. SRK and Mr. Buchanan , “who is going to be the next captain after losing 2 matches out of 3?”

It could have been a cherry on cake if KKR had won the match but atleast I am happy for Ganguly for his innings, the way he handled Shane Warne, the way he dismissed Munaf, the way he hit back to SRK and Buchanan and proved his capabilities yet again. People ( Ganguly’s critics) may find it partial but that’s the way I ( and Ganguly’s fans ) feel. I can see better Ganguly innings coming in next few matches as he must be feeling task half done. He proved his point but was unable to win the match for KKR which is his half job remaining.

Two cracking games. One high scoring (CSK Vs DD) and the other tie with super over (KKR Vs RR).
The missing component - thrill on the field, in this tournament is now brought back in the picture by 4 teams.
I felt, teams which were more hungry and eager than their opponents won the respective matches.
CSK & KKR both would be extremely disappointed in the end. However, organizers and cricket lovers are really happy for the fact that ‘thrill’ is back.
Millions of us would be discussing whether ‘Mendis was the correct choice or not?’ ‘What was Yashpal thinking when he played that shot?’ ‘After playing so well, why couldn’t Dada finish the job?’ ‘What an innings by AB de Villiers!’ ‘How well Nehra bowls once in a while?’ and many others.
I am happy that we would be discussing cricketing aspects more than off-field dramas. And hope that we get such cracking games more often than not.
Hey…there is an interesting discussion topic on ‘in case of super over, which bowler to choose in each team?’