IPL 2019: 3 reasons behind Mumbai Indians' lackluster start to the tournament

The first week of the Indian Premier League is over and the start of the tournament has seen a familiar theme repeat; a lackluster start to the tournament by Mumbai Indians. The three-time champions' eight-wicket loss to Kings XI Punjab means that they have now lost two of their first three games.

Quite evidently, both Delhi Capitals and Kings XI had comfortable victories against them. Even their victory against Royal Challengers Banglore wasn't a convincing performance and was only made possible due to some individual magic by Jasprit Bumrah and the umpire's failure to spot a no-ball on the final ball of the match.

For a team that on paper looks one of the strongest and most balanced, their displays on the pitch have not backed that up. Rohit Sharma's side has not lived up to expectations so far and desperately need a revival in form and fortunes. Or else, they could be heading into a second consecutive season; where they don't make the playoffs.

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#3 Use of Mayank Markande

Mayank Markande (Picture courtesy-BCCI/iplt20.com)

It is no secret that in modern-day limited's over cricket, wrist spinner's are an extremely important asset for any team. Players like Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Rashid Khan, and Imran Tahir are the arguably the biggest wicket-taking options of their respective franchises. Most successful teams in the shortest format usually have a potent wrist-spinner in their ranks.

Hence, the rise of Mayank Markane was a source of great relief for the Mumbai Indians last season. The youngster, who was an unknown commodity at the time, started with seven wickets in his first two matches against Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad. Despite, his form dwindling towards the second half of the season, he was considered as one of the finds of the season.

Post the IPL, Markande rose in prominence with impressive performances for Punjab in domestic cricket. This led to him making his India debut in a T20I against Australia in February.

Seeing his growth as a player, the 21-year-old was expected to play a major role for the Mumbai Indians this season. However, that has not been the case so far. To the surprise of many, Markande was not in the playing XI for the first game against Delhi Capitals.

While he returned to the line up against Royal Challengers Bangalore, he only bowled three overs; despite taking one wicket and conceding just 23 runs. The decision not to complete his quota was surprising as Yuvraj Singh dropped a catch off his bowling of AB De Villiers and the South African was struggling to read him in his first two overs.

Further, Markande was only given one over against Kings XI Punjab. In both matches, Rohit Sharma has not given Markande the ball after one expensive over. If Mumbai wants to win the tournament, Rohit Sharma will have to show more faith in his leg-spinner.

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#2 Middle order failures

Yuvraj Singh failed to fire against King XI Punjab (picture courtesy -BCCI/iplt20.com)

So far this season, Mumbai have put on scores off 176, 187/8, and 176/7. On the outset, these scores sound commendable and say that Mumbai's batting has clicked this year. However, in reality, Rohit's Sharma's side should have done better in each innings.

In the game against the Delhi capitals; chasing a total of 214, Mumbai did not even come close to the target. Against the Royal Challengers Banglore, they crumbled from 124-2 in 13.3 overs to 146-6 in 16.3 overs. It was only some late heroics from Hardik Pandya that got them to a respectable total.

The same story repeated against Punjab for the three-time champions. The visitors had got off to a brilliant start but went from 120-2 in 12.5 overs to 162-6 in 18.3 overs. Quite clearly, the middle order is failing to score runs and also slowing down the scoring rate. Unfortunately, as Mumbai Indians fans will remember, such collapses were a common theme last season and them happening again is a worrying trend in their hopes to make it to the last four.

A big reason behind this happening is that Kieron Pollard has failed to fire. Pollard has been one of the best T20 players in the world over the last decade and played a huge part in each of Mumbai Indians' three title wins.

However, he has only scored 33 runs in the three matches this season and has just one double-figure score to show for. It looks like, the Trinidadian has failed to shrug off his struggles from last year; where he only scored 133 runs in the whole season.

Quite clearly, the 31-year old is not the same player, he once was. It is high time that the team management moves past him as it is looking like, he is unable to play at this best consistently anymore. More often than not, Pollard fails to clear the boundary rope these days and is struggling to time the ball effectively.

Another issue is the presence of Yuvraj Singh at number four. While his scores in the first two games were quite good, the concerns about him did not die in many fans. They were vindicated in the game against Punjab; where he scored 18 runs from 22 balls at an extremely poor strike rate of 81.81. Many would point to his knock as the phase when Mumbai lost the momentum.

At the Wankhede stadium against Delhi Capitals, while Yuvraj scored a half-century, he only scored 21 of 25 balls if Axar's Patel's overs were not considered. Even against Royal Challengers Banglore, he did not look at comfortable before smashing Yuzvendra Chahal for three consecutive sixes and getting out.

It is extremely clear that left-hander is someone teams can work out. His weakness against pace and spinners taking the ball away from him is an open secret. In such a situation, it is not hard to keep him quiet and hurt Mumbai's run-rate.

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#3 Not playing Ishan Kishan and Ben Cutting

Ishan Kishan is yet to feature for Mumbai Indians this season (picture courtesy-BCCI/iplt20.com)

Some of Mumbai Indians team selection has been surprising, to say the least. The omission of Ishan Kishan is one decision that no one expected. The Jharkhand wicket-keeper was purchased for a massive ₹6.2 crore in last year's auction by the franchise.

He is someone they have not only invested a lot of money in but also showed a lot of faith, despite some inconsistent performances. Ultimately, he had a modest season and scored 275 runs in 14 matches at an incredible strike rate of 149.45.

The 20-year old was always seen as a long-term investment and experts felt that 2019 will be the year for the youngster. Kishan came into the IPL with a string of impressive performances having scored 333 runs in eight matches at an average of 55.50 and a strike rate of 151.36 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy.

However, the former India U-19 captain is yet to play a match in IPL 2019. With Kishan's ability to play at a high scoring rate, he is someone that will strengthen the team by batting at number three or four.

Another surprising exclusion is that of Ben Cutting. The Queenslander was dropped after the first game and was not selected for the games against Royal Challenger's Banglore and Kings XI Punjab. His non-selection is really surprising, seeing the quality he can bring into the team and his recent form.

Playing for the Brisbane Heat, Cutting scored 249 runs at a strike rate of 153.70 in 14 matches. He also took 12 wickets through the course of the season. With Kieron Pollard struggling with the bat and not bowling at all, Cutting will surely add more value to the team than him.

His ability to clear the boundary at ease will reduce the pressure on Hardik Pandya to finish the innings. He was the man of the match in 2016 final for Sunrisers Hyderabad and is a proven performer in T20 cricket.

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