First, they went and gave themselves the most unimaginative name possible: Mumbai Indians; then, they picked up an even cornier tagline: Duniya hila ke rakh denge.
As if that was not enough, they handed over the captaincy to Harbhajan Singh. If the bigwigs in Reliance do not wake up at least now, and show their famed brinkmanship, they might soon have to start buying helmets to hide their faces. The first thing they can do is hilao the entire team itself.
Frankly, however, it is not too surprising to see them wallowing at the bottom of the slippery ladder. If you discount Team Jaipur, they had assembled the worst combination among the eight teams in fray: they neither had the right balance nor even an iota of chutzpah.
Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollock are, no doubt, two of the finest cricketers around; the only problem is they have been around for too long a time. They can still win matches on their own steam but they surely can’t do it consistently anymore.
In a format like the IPL, that should have been the buzzword. Worse, if you want to think a little ahead, of what value will they be a year or two hence? They are both professionals and will ensure they remain fit and sharp enough. But can we really expect them to make a difference in the future?
Mumbai Indians’ second biggest buy, not counting Sachin Tendulkar, was Harbhajan. One wonders whose idea it was to shell out close to 9 lakh dollars for a mercurial spinner, that too for a Twenty20 tournament.
Their other foreign purchases too are very interesting, to say the least. Ashwell Prince has played exactly one T20 game before this; Aussie imports Dominic Thornley and Luke Ronchi are not exactly wizards at this game either. Dilhara Fernando can be a handful though.
To be fair, though, they haven’t really enjoyed great luck so far. Tendulkar is still nursing his groin and nobody knows when he can be up and running again. That itself is a huge psychological and cricketing setback to the team.
Their best buy was perhaps Lasith Malinga. The slinging fast bowler, however, pulled up with an injury, leaving the team way short on firepower. Dwayne Bravo can make an impact but sending a jet for an untested Ashish Nehra is another gem that only Tendulkar can explain.
The good news, however, is that the star performers of the first two rounds are on their way back home. The departure of the Australians and Kiwis is going to badly hurt the leaders: Team Chennai. Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils, Team Hyderabad and Mohali are also going to be affected. Only Team Jaipur and the Mumbai Indians will not feel the pinch. They will continue to remain as strong or as weak as they have been so far. The MIs have quite a few local players: that means at least their hearts are in the right place.
The question is: can these boys rise to the occasion. On the larger canvas, this exodus will also mean a huge test for the IPL. Without so many mega stars, will the crowds continue to come to the stadia? Will they be excited about watching local players? Or will the fizz go out of the competition?
(The piece was written before Mumbai Indians’ match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday night)
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Mumbai have been unlucky
Marsh powers Punjab to easy win
Shaun Marsh made a match-winning 84 on his IPL debut © Cricinfo Ltd
There were plenty of star batsmen on show but the two best innings of an absorbing encounter came from two youngsters. Shaun Marsh's unbeaten 84 on his IPL debut, carrying Kings XI Punjab to a comfortable seven-wicket win - their third on the trot - and fourth place in the points table, followed Rohit Sharma's 76, which lifted the Deccan Chargers to a respectable 164.
Each side also saw cameos from more experienced hands; VVS Laxman provided the early aggression for Deccan with a typically fluid 48 off 34 balls, while Mahela Jayawardene shrugged off his indifferent form to date with an assured unbeaten 45 to shepherd Marsh - the son of the former Australian opener Geoff Marsh - as they ran down the target with ease.
Sent in to bat, Deccan raced to 50 for 1 after six overs on the back of Laxman's efforts, and seemed on course for a huge total. However, the game's complexion changed when legspinner Piyush Chawla intelligently varied his trajectory and pace in a two-over spell to remove Herschelle Gibbs and Laxman. Gibbs, on his IPL debut, fell as he clubbed a short one straight to midwicket while Laxman was too early into a drive to lob one to Yuvraj at covers to leave Deccan at 67 for 3 after nine overs.
Enter Rohit, who had burst into the limelight with a fighting fifty against South Africa in the ICC World Twenty20 last year. As wickets fell around him and only Shahid Afridi touching double figures, Rohit took the fight to the bowlers. He started slowly, as the Punjab's bowlers keeping things tight.
It wasn't till the 15th over that he opened out, taking Chawla for 12 runs, including a four and a big six, to spoil the legspinner's figures. The next over was from Gagandeep Singh, playing his first IPL match; he fired in a couple of great yorkers but Rohit hit him for two powerful boundaries off the last two balls. His fifty came with a heave over midwicket off VRV Singh and the runs continued to flow as he took Gagandeep for three consecutive fours in the 19th. A six off Irfan in the final over rounded off his exploits, having scored his last 57 runs off 22 balls.
For all that, though, it was still a below-par total that Punjab had to chase down and Marsh got them off to a confident start with a couple of sweetly-timed boundaries in the first over. Laxman shuffled the bowlers around and managed to stifle the runs but it needed a stroke of luck for the breakthrough.With the score on 41 in the sixth over, Marsh lashed a Sanjay Bangar delivery straight back and the bowler managed to get a hand on it as it crashed into the stumps with non-striker Ramnaresh Sarwan out of his crease. Sangakkara fell soon after but Marsh and Yuvraj were involved in a 41-run stand off four overs to keep the target well in sight.
Marsh remained unruffled even after Yuvraj's dismissal and was joined by the cool-headed Jayawardene, who smashed three boundaries off his first five balls. The only time they looked in trouble was when Bangar sent down a tight 14th over and the required run-rate crept over nine. The response from Punjab was swift - Jayawardene played a couple of scoops and an extra-cover drive as 19 runs came off the next over.
Besides scoring heavily square of the wicket on the off side Marsh - who was a replacement for Simon Katich, Punjab's matchwinner in their previous game - also unleashed some lovely on-drives. There were a few streaky shots towards the end before he clubbed Zoysa for a straight six, his first of the match. Jayawardene brought up the victory with another classy extra-cover drive, as Punjab continued their resurgence after losing their first two games.
Royals marching ahead
Rajasthan Royals 196 for 7 (Asnodkar 60, Yusuf 55, Gul 3-31) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (Ganguly 51, Tanvir 2-30, 2-Trivedi 2-31) by 45 runsScorecard and ball-by-ball detailsHow they were out
Sohail Tanvir took 2 for 30 for the Rajasthan Royals © AFP (file photo)
An irrepressible Rajasthan Royals side got their fourth successive win of the tournament and nudged past Delhi to second place in the points table with a 45-run win over a listless Kolkata Knight Riders. 'All the King's men' might be Kolkata's advertising tagline, referring to team owner Shah Rukh Khan, but here it was a more apt description of Shane Warne and his team. His decision to bat first - allowing his bowlers respite from the Jaipur heat - was justified by attacking half-centuries from debutant Swapnil Asnodkar and Yusuf Pathan, and disciplined bowling by the Rajasthan quicks.
Kolkata felt the absence of Brendon McCullum and Ricky Ponting, who left for the upcoming Test series in the West Indies, as they slumped to their third defeat in a row. In the only other match in which they chased, Kolkata needed 111 to win, a far less daunting target than the 197 they were set to chase today.
Rajasthan's preferred method has been to chase a target, but this time Warne changed the tactic, and Asnodkar, who opened the innings with Graeme Smith, got into his stride immediately. He cut, drove and slogged for his 60, playing cautiously against Ishant Sharma and Umar Gul - who eventually had him caught trying to pull - and targeting the wayward Ashok Dinda and Ajit Agarkar. He hit Agarkar for three successive fours and reached his fifty off 29 balls.
Yusuf, who also got to his fifty off 29 balls, added 53 with Asnodkar. He went after David Hussey's insipid spin and Agarkar's short-of-length deliveries and helped Rajasthan score 53 between overs 10 and 15. Yusuf got most of his runs by waiting on the back foot and hitting it powerfully to either side of the stumps. He reached his fifty with a massive six driven straight on to the roof. Ravindra Jadeja's cameo - 33 off 19 balls - helped Rajasthan to a competitive score.
With the pitch being flat, Rajasthan's bowlers strove to maintain their line and length. Salman Butt was bowled when he inside-edged one from Sohail Tanvir that stayed low and came in. Agarkar, promoted to No. 3, was caught behind as he tried to cut a straight delivery from Shane Watson. Brad Hodge was run out at the non-striker's end after Siddharth Trivedi got a finger on to the ball off Sourav Ganguly's drive straight, and helped the ball onto the stumps.
That brought together Ganguly and David Hussey, and though the two were out there long enough to build a partnership that could have set the platform for the chase, they found it hard to pierce the field. In the first four overs they batted together, Hussey and Ganguly hit one six each, but no fours. Ganguly was lucky to get off twice - a pull nearly caught at midwicket and a catch by Graeme Smith that was given not out after the third umpire, Asad Rauf, ruled that it might not have been taken cleanly - but fell when he tried to break loose. His 68-run partnership with Hussey was the only one of consequence in the Kolkata innings.
Among the bowlers, Gul, playing his first game, was disciplined early on, bowling successive yorkers - his first two overs yielded two wickets for 15 runs. Ishant Sharma bowled straight and full, and didn't allow the Rajasthan batsmen to take too many liberties. Ganguly used seven bowlers, including himself, but was not always backed up in the field. Twice in the innings, the ball went past fielders who were in the process of collecting it.
Rajasthan, on the other hand, were much sharper in the field. The manner in which the last wicket fell summed up their day: Warne and substitute fielder Taruwar Kohli both ran for the skier, Kohli managed to stretch to his left and grab it just as Warne collided with him. The two tumbled to the ground, but the ball was safely ensconced in Kohli's hand. In a side less inspired, this would have been the comic collision of the day; here, it was the last act of another polished performance.
