Over the days we have seen lots of pieces on this topic, number of points have been raised on how Mumbai Indians have messed up their IPL winning combination by picking the *wrong* players at the auctions. I agree to most pieces on the subject level, that is MI had a very bad strategy at the auctions. But this piece is written to bust the myth that the blunders were not the most popular ones which are doing the rounds here, rather the simple ones which could have been done in order to enhance their winning combination. Let me start with the list of *popular* players left out by MI.
Pic Courtesy – Google Images
Glenn Maxwell:
We have to start with him of course. He has been a revelation this season, but before the WT20 started how many of you honestly expected Maxwell to be in beast mode?
I can hear people saying “Mumbai had Maxwell with them for the whole of last season, they should have known his potential and should have retained him ahead of others”
Ahead of whom? Pollard? Kieron Pollard, the man who won them the finals last season after the dramatic top order collapse? The man whose pyrotechnics against the Sun Risers got them the second place which allowed them to recover after the loss in the playoffs against CSK? Pollard showed maturity last season, played some important knocks and was a live wire in the field as well. There was no question of not retaining him.
“But they could have got Maxwell instead of Corey Anderson right?”
Yes they could have, but we all saw what Corey did against WI and India. He showed he had all round capabilities which would add the much required balance to a T20 team whereas Maxwell was never seen as a player who can bowl 4 overs in every game. With respect to batting, Anderson had scored the fastest 100 ever in an ODI game. He had some whirlwind knocks against India, almost scored the fastest 50 against them and also took a fifer. So I would definitely not blame the MI management in going for Corey Anderson over Maxwell. The golden rule for selection is they are done based on the potential a player has. Corey had the potential to bat at No.5 and bowl 4 overs, on the other hand Maxwell can bat at the top 4 and is of little use with the ball.
“But Corey is not at all bowling right? They could have had Maxwell instead?”
Well that is speaking retrospectively. Corey was coming back from an injury, did not settle in quickly and lost the team management’s faith. All in all we would need a separate analysis for that.
Dwayne Smith:
Dwayne Smith was Mumbai’s savior last season, an important cog in the wheel for them. He had delivered for them in crucial games which includes both IPL and CLT20. He was their unsung hero and was the man whose performances saw MI getting qualified for both IPL and CLT20 finals. Yet why did MI look beyond him for this season?
Here is why, Smith had partnered Tendulkar for majority of the season. Tendulkar being the senior partner provided the stability at the top. Once Tendulkar was gone, MI needed someone to play that role and control the innings right from the start. Although SRT was poor for them in the last two seasons, that was the role he played for them. With such a requirement in place, there is none better than Michael Hussey to take up that position. To refresh our memories, Mike Hussey was scoring runs for fun last season and was the orange cap winner. He was the player who set the tempo for CSK’s innings and was scoring at a very good strike rate as well. MI management must have thought he would be the right person to replace SRT at the top and I do not fault them at all for thinking on those lines.
At the start of the IPL how many of you would have preferred Hussey over Smith? Most of the CSK fans would nod in unison here. It is unfortunate that Hussey did not take off here with MI and that is the key reason for their non-performance this year. On the other hand Smith has had an excellent tournament up until now, but how do you think one can foresee this? We cannot discuss selections on hindsight, can we?
If we are talking about Hussey’s age here, then take Brad Hodge and Pravin Tambe. Hodge played some crucial knocks for Rajasthan Royals last season and Pravin Tambe’s story is a cricketing fairytale in itself.
Mitchell Johnson:
Mitch was the joint leading wicket taker for Mumbai Indians last season along with Harbhajan Singh. MI had played two overseas bowlers for most of the season last time, the reason for that was they did not have a good Indian replacement, the combination worked for them last time around. But this time the idea was to get a good Indian bowler so that they can strengthen the middle order with a foreign player. General consensus is not to waste two overseas slots for an out and out bowler in this batsmen friendly format and MI had toed that line this time. Also Mitch did not help things himself by having a horror CLT20 which saw him lose his place to Nathan Coulter-Nile.
PS: I was sure that Zak was not the ideal Indian replacement they were looking for and I am glad Praveen Kumar has replaced him now.
Actual Auction Blunders:
- Retaining Dinesh Karthik instead of Rayudu should have been a no brainer. A top order bat who can also keep wickets, also performed exceptionally well last season should have stayed with MI.
- Having known the potential of Akshar Patel and Yuzhvendra Chahal all along, they should have gone for at least one of them and should have left out Pragyan Ojha. (who was definitely costlier than his actual worth this auctions as other teams who were looking for lead spinners increased his price)
- They should have used RTM on Rishi Dhawan, who was key in providing the balance for the side last season. Lack of domestic all-rounders is one of the main reasons why they struggle with the fifth bowler’s quota in almost all the games.
- Instead of going for a team of keepers, they should have got one proper domestic batsmen like Lokesh Rahul, Karun Nair, Manpreet Juneja or Baba Aparajith.
IPL is a tournament which moves at a breakneck speed. If a player is not in form, there is little time for him to gain it in this format as he is almost always on the move. The form of a player leading to the tournament is very crucial. Maxwell and Smith had some form coming into this tournament as they had a good WT20 whereas Hussey was coming back after a long layoff. Corey Anderson and Kieron Pollard were coming back from injuries.The form of their key players combined with some really poor decisions at the auctions means Mumbai might fail to defend their IPL and CLT20 double this year.
– Murali Mohan.S
Weekend Cricket Club 
May 13, 2014 @ 15:04:26
See its not a good idea defending Mumbai Indians who tried to buy best deals outside their team.. When CSK won the IPL they looked to the buy the same team back. That is the difference between CSK,RR and other teams.
The team which retains their core players do well consistently. Buying these fancy players may seem well justifiable, but its also about the players getting accustomed to the team environment as quickly as possible.
Mumbai did retain 5 players, but they didn’t retain their match winners.
Ambati Raydu and Bhajji was a wrong call. Mitch and Smith should have been there in their final 5..
May 15, 2014 @ 17:24:52
Well this time CSK did not get back their top run getter Hussey, but they still seem to do well. They let go Badrinath, Morkel and Murali Vijay and got replacements for them but that worked for them right? Its just that it did not click for Mumbai Indians this time around. They tried to enhance their team, which did not work out as they expected. Bhajji was their leading wicket taker, performed better than what R.Ashwin did for CSK.. not sure why they should not retain him..