BackHow Mumbai Indians turned it around to win IPL 8
If there is a takeaway from the Mumbai Indians' title win in IPL, it is simply that in sports it's not about how well you start, but how you finish
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If there is a takeaway from the Mumbai Indians’ title win against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) final on Sunday, it is simply that in sports it’s not about how well (or badly in this case) you start, but about how you finish.
The Mumbai Indians’ lost their opening four games, much like they did last year (they lost five in the UAE) and their campaign was looking utterly rudderless. At that stage, they tried several combinations, especially at the top of the order, where the team’s struggles really lay. Their bowling, in the hands of two aging veterans, Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh, wasn’t deilvering. Not surprisingly, many wrote them off. We did too. It was a steep climb from where they were a few weeks ago.
But like most good teams, the Mumbai Indians found a way by keeping it simple and by, to use the oft-quoted cliche, taking one game at a time, and not getting ahead of themselves.
The revival began in rather familiar circumstances, in the face of a defeat. Against Kings XI Punjab at the Wankhede, the Mumbai Indians’ top order failed again, at one stage languishing at 60/6, chasing 178 against Mitchell Johnson and company. In walked Harbhajan Singh and went for the runs immediately. He reached 50 off 19 balls, the fastest in the league’s short history. Some might choose to call that genre of batsmanship chancing your arm, but that knock from Bhajji gave the team the much-needed glimmer. Mumbai lost the game by 18 runs, but the fight, reassuringly for their fans, had begun.
At the start of the tournament, the biggest issue for the Mumbai Indians was their batting. The opening combination wasn’t exactly clicking, and every opener they tried, including Rohit Sharma, failed to deliver. Ironically, before the tournament began, the opening slot was touted as Mumbai’s strength. Opener Aaron Finch, member of the World Cup-winning Australian side, was injured against the Rajasthan Royals in Ahmedabad on 14 April. And that’s where the tactical shift happened. Now, they let West Indian Lendl Simmons open with Parthiv Patel, with Rohit Sharma slipping down to the number three slot. This gave the opening pair a chance to go hard in the first few overs, setting a ready platform for Sharma, Keiron Pollard and even Harbhajan Singh who followed. The strategy paid off: Simmons scored important runs for his side, and built a solid understanding with partner Patel. Simmons ended the IPL with an impressive 540 runs. The Mumbai Indians finally felt stable.
The other weakness for the Mumbai Indians at the start was their bowling. While individual bowlers did their bit every now and then, there was no consistency to the attack. Enter Mitchell McLenaghan. The Kiwi left-arm player quickly became an integral part of the Mumbai Indians’ attack and his partnership with Malinga at the start of the innings and at the end proved decisive on many occasions. For example, in the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mumbai, they successfully defended 157 on what was seen as a batting track.
The spinners followed suit and started delivering. In the initial stages of the tournament, Harbhajan was Rohit Sharma’s go-to bowler. While he did alright as a defensive bowler keeping the runs in check and kept upping dot balls, the wickets weren’t showing. A few matches into the league, Harbhajan got better, bowling slower through the air rather than pushing it through. His spell in the qualifier against Chennai, when he got rid of MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina off consecutive deliveries, was key to Mumbai’s victory. In the finals, Harbhajan Singh ended up with two critical wickets. In the process, he also earned the national selectors’ nod and was named in the squad to play a test and one dayers against Bangladesh.
The next in line to make his presence felt was Keiron Pollard. The all-rounder has been on the Mumbai Indians’ roster since 2010 and has had an impact. But this year, he too got off to a fairly poor start. Then came his big moments. Bowling against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), he gave just nine in the 19th over to help his side clinch a five-run thriller. On the batting side, he started with a 34-ball 70 against Rajasthan. His other decisive knocks were against CSK in both the qualifiers (41 off 17) and the finals (36 off 18). His role in accelerating runs towards the end of an innings (batting first) have helped the Mumbai Indians maximize the target on good batting pitches.
The Mumbai Indians campaign was also aided by younger Indian cricketers, especially young all-rounder Hardik Pandya from Baroda, relatively unknown in the Indian domestic cricket. After a nervous start to his Mumbai Indians career, Pandya was part of some close finishes. Against KKR, he walked in to bat with his side tottering at 79/4, and finished with a well-played unbeaten 61 off 31 balls. Similarly, Karnataka all-rounder Jagadeesha Suchith played a nice little foil to Harbhajan Singh as the second spinner ahead of the more established Pragyan Ojha. Suchith also contributed late into the innings, scoring the odd boundary or six to finish off.
The Mumbai Indians’ story this time around has been that of a transformation from virtual no-hopers to title winners, and will be part of the IPL history. For the brand of cricket the Mumbai Indians played throughout the IPL, in defeat and in triumph, they probably deserved it, or well, earned it.
Its also perhaps the story the IPL needed.
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