May 31, 2008 01:36 PM
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The ongoing IPL has generated hype all over the country with eight teams slogging it out in the heat of may in a tropical country to win the trophy. Uber cool SRK named his Kolkatta squad the KnightRiders, a sufficiently fancy name to attract a fan following. More conservative in their approach were the Delhi Daredevils and the Rajasthan Royals, who simply formed simple alliterations with their city names. As it were, Shane Warne has turned around a side with no really big names into a tight unit that has qualified into the final with consumate ease. Anyway, coming to the point of this review:
*Why On Earth Did The Most Expensive Franchise Of Them All Not Qualify?
*That, dear reader, is a million dollar question. Mr. Mukesh Moneybags Ambani pumped his currency notes into it expecting great results. What he got instead resembles damp squib. Here are 10 reasons for the failure of the Mumbai Indians:
An Injured icon player who misses the first few games does not do the team morale any good. The non-availability of Master Plaster.oops Master Blaster Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar meant taht cricket connosieurs the world over would have to wait to see the dream pairing of Jayasuriya and tendulkar open the batting. As his team lost the first four games, including a humiliating 10 wicket defeat agaisnt the Deccan Chargers, Tendulkar watched from the sidelines, presumably reduced to playing cricket on a gaming console.
The skipper is injured. In his place we have maverick offie Harbhajan Singh at the helm of affairs. He had experience(afterall he has played under Ganguly, Dravid, Kumble etc) but his unrestrained aggression got the better of him when he slapped India- teammate Sreesanth after a defeat. Result? Out goes another key player, and now there was no cpatain, no vice captain. Definitely, the What-The-Hell-Is-Going-On-Here moment of the tournament.
Who named the team Mumbai Indians? In a team filled with South Africans(Pollock, Prince, Nel and Bosman) and Sri Lankans(Jayasuriya, Malinga, Fernando), the name is out of place. Unimaginative and boring.Its a zzzzzzz name with no oomph. I actually read this line somewhere, " Pollock opneed the bowling for the Indians" Sheesh! Cricket is a funny game.
Auction? Ya What? Lets buy random players, eh? With players like David Hussey, Shane Watson, Rohit Sharma and McCullum on sale, the team went ahead and bought unknowns like Luke Ronchi, Dominic Thornely, Ashwell Prince and Vikrant Yeligati. The lack of a specialist keeper and specialsit spinner was felt in all the games. Pollock and jayasuriya carried the squa ably on their aging shoulders, though.
5. Decisons to play Chitnis and Yeligati were big mistakes, as they did not impress in any of the games. Takawale struggled theoughout as well. Why field these players in the eleven? I guess there was no chocie since the ace spinner, Harbhajan Singh, had been stupid enough to get himself dangerously close to a life ban.
6. No Real Sachin Aaala-re for the Mumbai team. Tendulkar didn't get a ton and the one time he got a half century, we lost. Didn't match his own high standards, while his two contemporaries Dravid and Ganguly, played well.
- A mediocre middle order led by Robin Uthappa did not match expectations. Uthappa was awfully out of form and he struggled hard for his 20s and 30s. Dwayne Bravo did a fine job but had to return for national duty.
8. Ashish Nehra was less than impressive on comeback. He may have grabbed a few wickets, but he went for plenty of runs and his attempt at heroics in the game against the Chennai SUperKings might have cost them 2 points.
9. The team simply did not handle pressure situations well nough. Last ball defeats in the last few games sealed their fate. Truly disappointing to see Fernando bowl a wide and misfield in the final over against the Rajasthan Royals. Appalling, more like. They couldnt deliver on he big stage, when it was requirted the most.
- Phew! Quite a comprehensive list eh? After being disappointed by my team, I cannot rack my brains and think of reasons. Maybe Emraan hashmi came and told the palyers about the Jannat waiting in store for them if they did as he said. But this time, atleast theres no dead coach.
*Do RRC.
