MI openers lacked demolition effect

MI’s Kieron Pollard (left), Krunal and Hardik Pandya (right)

Mumbai Indians, the most successful franchise in the IPL, have failed to qualify for the Last 4.

For a team that pride itself on planning, preparation and execution, it will come as a shock to have had an inconsistent season.

The planning begins from talent scouting, off-season monitoring of skills and fitness levels of each player to off-season camps. They are probably the only franchise that works round the year to tick all boxes of the processes required for execution.

Major shortcomings

Mock auctions, backroom planning, opposition analysis are part of their planning. The interesting part of the IPL is the form and fitness of key players during the period during which the IPL is played. This is where MI may have fallen short and it eventually reflected on the scoresheets.

Quinton de Kock and skipper Rohit Sharma gave them reasonable starts, but nothing to demolish the opposition attacks, the pressure on the middle and lower order to accelerate run-rates can provide different challenges.

If you miss, I hit - Mumbai missed hitting often in the slog overs. Defending a total can get difficult in such situations. Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Saurabh Tiwary could not break away from the moderate starts and that built pressure on the Pollards and Pandyas in the death batting. If the late-season form of Kishan and Surya had flowered earlier, Mumbai may have made more of an impact on the table, but that wasn't the case.

Kieron Pollard, Hardik and Krunal Pandya can be dangerous when on song, but this season they seemed a little out of tune be it with fewer balls to play or dismissals at the wrong time.

Hardik conundrum

Hardik not bowling has dented the strength of an otherwise reliable bowling attack .The pressure on Krunal and Pollard as bowlers was eventually felt as they lost games when it mattered most.

The last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad was an exhibition of what they are capable of, 235 in 20 overs is phenomenal but too much left to achieve in one game.

Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Adam Milne, Nathan Coulter-Nile and James Neesham are a formidable attack and reliable too. If Mumbai felt a pinch it was the batting and that has cost them a place in the knockouts.

It's been an organised franchisee that has done everything to tick boxes. Their success rate in fan base and results over the years manifests quality.

This may be the last year where most of this team play together but they have provided the fans and cricket lovers great entertainment and results. And as they say, the old order changeth.