Defending champions Mumbai Indians are out of contention for this year’s IPL championship when they lost against the Delhi Daredevils on Sunday. Least to say, they have been inconsistent with their performances right from the beginning eventually managing only 6 wins from their 14 games. Through my analysis, not only did Mumbai Indians failed to capitalize on their home advantage losing 4 of their 7 outings at the Wankhede which primarily made a huge difference to the winning tally they also failed miserably in their away games. There’s another reason why they failed to register their place for the IPL playoffs, they were unsuccessful in beating stronger contenders like the Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Rajasthan Royals who have qualified for the playoffs. Looking at their dipping conviction on the field it wasn’t surprising that the Indians couldn’t even muster a win against a weaker Delhi Daredevils who crashed out of this IPL very early on.
Their batting never came to the party. Barring individual performances by Suryakumar Yadav (512 runs), Jasprit Bumrah (17 wickets) and Hardik Pandya (18 wickets), and the young wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan’s 21 balls 62 versus the Kolkata Knight Riders, it was a pathetic and most forgetful showing ever by the Mumbai Indians who I expected to at least qualify for the playoffs. Though, having won the IPL thrice in 2013, 2015 and 2017 — which is once every two years, I am hoping they could script a comeback in 2019. Only time can tell us, but unless they make changes both in the team leadership and coaching levels they might be looking at a repeat of their previous performances.
