Mumbai Indians are one of the most successful sides of Indian Premier League, given the four titles that they have secured in the span of the last seven years. Not only are they a heavyweight team in the papers, but their in-depth squad makes them one of the best teams of the current editions of the fray.
However, there are times when even the best fails and that is exactly when the pundits come crawling over like a vulture sniffing blood over the fallen. Chances are rare that Mumbai will most likely not qualify for IPL but cricket is a funny game. We will look at five possible reasons that may hinder the defending champions from qualifying for the knock-outs.
1. Their poor form in the UAE
The last time proceedings happened in UAE, Mumbai lost all of their five matches. The drubbings started with a loss to KKR and then shortly spilt over to Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Sunrisers Hyderabad. It seemed that the team was out of its elements and just couldn’t come to grips with the austere conditions of the pitch.
Though possibilities of such a sighting are rarer than a glimpse of a spaceship, it isn’t absolutely impossible. Despite possessing the best of batting line ups of the fray, the team will need to keep their heads about them and get acclimatized to the mercurial nature of the pitches. Rash complacency can be a major reason for their downfall.
2. The middle-order conundrum
With Malinga stepping out of the fray, they will have a possible opening for an additional foreigner. However, none of those players will have a key to their middle-order problem. The number four position is still to be decided by the Indians.
Whether it will be an untested Anmolpreet Singh in the middle or the hard-hitting Ishan Kishan to fill that curial position in the batting line up, that will be the major question? With too many hard-hitters in the side already, Mumbai will be inclined in fielding an anchor in the middle. Anmolpreet Singh has already proven himself to be an abled holder in the middle of the innings in domestic cricket. However, this young cricketer is still unexposed to the stalwarts of the game. Can he keep his nerve under such intense pressure?
3. The tricky pitches
Despite Mumbai bragging of heavy artillery in hard-hitting, the pitches of UAE will need a lot more of the brain than brawn to navigate through those enigmatic surfaces. History states that the pitches have been highly conducive to the spinners and Rohit Sharma will not have it easy to fire against slow bowlers too early in the innings.
Also, Mumbai lacks quality spinners in their side. They will have to rely a lot on a young Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya, who have put in staunch shifts earlier but aren’t really greats of the spinning artistry.
4. The Malinga problem
With the likes of Nathan Coulter-Nile, Trent Boult, and Mitchell McClenaghan chipping in, the question remains who will be the exact replacement for the Sri Lankan fast bowler. Coulter-Nile will always be the first choice, however, the Australian doesn’t really share good chemistry with UAE. Boult is exciting but at times tends to slip miserably.
McClenaghan is highly inconsistent and that leaves the onus entirely on Bumrah. The Indian fast bowler has always exceeded the expectations those were set on him, but he has never led a bowling line up before. As Malinga opted out, Bumrah will have to pull off miracles as a bowling leader and the question is, has he been groomed enough to pull off those magical feats?
5. Experiment with the youngsters
Champions of the fray have always come up with one surprising trick up their sleeves and that is a youngster. Who is it going to be for Mumbai this time? Anukul Roy has all the flair that a wunderkind needs to become a great spinner, however, he will need a lot of guidance and expecting the same from Krunal Pandya isn’t wise enough.
Anmolpreet Singh and Ishan Kishan will be locked in an everlasting battle to make the final cut. It is quite an intriguing question that whom will the management side with? In this process, the ship may sail and they will be still busy with the calculations.
