Mumbai Indians' last shot at salvation

There was a time in the early 2000′s when Real Madrid went on buy the biggest footballing superstars on the planet and assembled a start studded side that included the likes of Zinadine Zidane, David Beckham, Roberto Carlos, Raul, Owen, Figo and many more. This earned them the nickname ‘Galacticos’. If a team was to be picked to be given the nickname ‘Galacticos’ in the IPL, it has to be the Mumbai Indians.

Even before the first ever IPL auction took place prior to the IPL season 1, the Mumbai side had caught the biggest fish from the cricketing ocean – ‘Sachin Tendulkar‘. The IPL rule of assigning ‘marquee’ players to the team they reside in, meant Mumbai had the biggest superstar from the world of cricket in its bag. It was perhaps the sign of things to come.

Right from the first IPL auction, the Neeta Ambani led Mumbai Indians (MI) invested heavily in established and aging superstars rather than young, up and coming talent. It was and has been their buying philosophy ever since. The plan has always been catching the biggest fish. It started with Jayasuriya, Pollock, Malinga and Harbhajan Singh in the first IPL auction. Next season, it was JP Duminy. And perhaps the biggest of them all, the big hitting sensation Kieron Pollard was signed just before the 3rd season.

Perhaps the only time MI invested keeping the future in mind was in the IPL auction before the 4th season, when they extravagantly spent on bringing in the local lad and the would be future captain Rohit Sharma. But even at the same auction, they spent a reasonable amount in bringing in Andrew Symonds. The trend has continued in seasons 5 and 6 with the inclusion of Gibbs in the the 5th, while Ponting and Mitchell Johnson were brought in the 6th season.

Even the transfers MI have made are on the basis of the same philosophy of bringing in superstars. A young and improving Robin Uthappa was sacrificed for bringing in India’s fast bowling spearhead Zaheer Khan, a move which troubled MI for three seasons because they couldn’t find a stable wicket keeper and also an opening partner for Sachin. Finally, in the 5th season, MI brought in another star in his own way, Dinesh Karthik. They have also let other young talents like Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Thisara Perera, Dwayne Bravo slip from their grasp.

This policy of building sides around superstars has come back to haunt the Mumbai side again and again. They have been found wanting for quality when the superstars fail. And unfortunately for MI, they have failed in crunch matches – the playoffs and the IPL final. The same seems to be happening this season too. The side crumbled in a pressure situation against Chennai in the 1st qualifier. And now they have to face a side which can be termed as a ‘real team’, the Rajashtan Royals, in the eliminator to have a shot again at Chennai and the IPL trophy.

But this time around, unlike the earlier seasons, might be the last opportunity for the superstars of Mumbai. With the 3 year contracts of players expiring at the end of the season, there will be an all player auction before the start of the next season. That means all players, except the limit BCCI set for number of players that can be retained, will be up for auction. Last time around, the limit was upto four players that could be retained. Going by the same limit, Mumbai will have some interesting choices to make.

Their biggest asset from the bowling department, Lasith Malinga, seems to be less of a threat now that the batsmen know what to expect for him. His wicket taking ability also has diminished. Their biggest batting star, Sachin Tendulkar, seems to be shinning far less and far to inconsistently at that. With age catching up to him and the injuries, there are even questions whether he will be a part of the IPL next season or not while other stars that have shined this season – Dinesh Karthik, Mitchell Johnson, Dwayne Smith and even Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha – may not be considered valuable enough to be retained.

Real Madrid, after their Galacticos era, were able to build up a championship winning side again after a couple of seasons in transition. The same might be the case with Mumbai Indians. Come next auction, they might make a couple of shrewd signings and in the coming years, build a championship winning side under Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard. But the writing is on the walls. With icons like Jayasuriya, Pollock, Symonds, Zaheer, JP Duminy no longer associated with MI and the omnipresent stars like Sachin, Malinga fast fading, this might be the last chance for the original Galacticos of the IPL to win the elusive IPL trophy.