A pretty sure sign of something being wrong is how often the playing XI of a team changes especially when the conditions aren’t radically different from the last game. Gujarat have been piling on the changes in a desperate effort to get their combination right, Rising Pune Supergiant have been rustling up things as well. RCB have been forced to make changes because of injuries. Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, have made just a couple of changes to their line-up since the first game – they got Harbhajan Singh back in and Southee went out.
The results are showing too. MI lost the first match of the season to RPS but have racked up four wins on the trot to go top of the table. The wins, more than anything else, reflect the depth of talent the side possesses. They have been in trouble at times but have found the reserve to fight back even when many others would have given them no chance.
Frankly, this Mumbai Indians side has developed into a confident unit that backs itself even when the going gets tough – it is a sign of maturity, and also a sign of a team that knows what it wants.
Mumbai has built a team that can play unchanged in almost all conditions. They have versatile batsmen, the big-hitters lower down the order – they bat all the way down to No 8. They have six regular high quality bowlers who have played together for a few seasons now. Essentially, it means Rohit Sharma also knows what to expect from the bowlers and the batsmen.
“I have done a lot of homework for my captaincy,” he said. “Every year you don’t have the same squad, so you have to change a few things. We do a lot of work behind the scenes, looking at match-ups and I am really happy that guys are putting their hand up, taking the responsibility and finishing the job.”
Nitish Rana, Kieron Pollard, Harbhajan Singh, the Pandya brothers, Jasprit Bumrah are just a few who have turned in match-defining performances just five games into the campaign. Players such as Jos Buttler and Rohit Sharma haven’t even got going as yet.
“A captain is as good as his team,” Sharma said. “With their support... and without their performance, a captain wouldn’t be a captain. I think a lot of credit goes to my bowlers and my fielders as well. Whatever we have asked for, they have delivered. Things have fallen in place and I guess I have been lucky in that way.
“And yes, I try and read the game a little bit, I try and stay ahead of game – say, two overs ahead of the game. In this format, you have be proactive to make those decisions... with changeups and the field placements too. So yes, so far so good.”
A bowler’s game too
The bowling line-up looks especially good. In Lasith Malinga and Bumrah, they have bowlers who enjoy bowling at the death. Harbhajan Singh and Krunal Pandya are capable of containing opposition batting line-ups with some very accurate bowling. And Mitchell Mclenaghan is proving to be the surprise packet so far – he gives them the variation of a left-arm quick and has a mean bouncer too.
“We all say that the T20 format is a batsman’s game, but I completely disagree because if you are sharp enough, if you are mindful of what is happening around you... you will be successful and that is what I think the bowling unit is doing. We are discussing a lot of things outside the field, but what happens on the field is important and it takes a lot of courage to do that.”
The missing link in this team was the performance of Sharma himself and now that he has a few runs under his belt, one can expect the batting of this unit to pick up as well.
It might be early days, but the Mumbai Indians are already looking like an unstoppable unit and putting them in for a slot in the Qualifiers might not be such a far-fetched option. That is the kind of confidence they are inspiring right now.
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