The Mumbai Cricket Blog

Ranji Season Review - Mumbai

2012-01-01T21:35:00.000-08:00

Seven matches, three wins, four draws - two of them with the first innings lead. Top of the group. Most wins in the league phase of the tournament. Best run quotient of all the teams in the Elite League. The statistics certainly point to a very good tournament so far. But as usual, that is only half the picture.

It has truly been a schizophrenic season for Mumbai. When they were good, they were really good. Two crushing wins which got the team bonus points apart from a nine wicket win over Punjab in a truncated game bear testament to this fact. On the flip side, there were times when the team looked like they were sleep walking through games.

Batting

The batting performed admirably in the absence of Ajinkya Rahane, who was warming the benches of the national team for most of the season; and Sahil Kukreja, who retired at the end of last season to pursue an MBA. The runs came pretty consistently through all the matches, and there were no collapses in any of the matches. Different players stepped up at different moments and in the end, it was the batting that really ensured that Mumbai stayed ahead of the pack at the end of the league phase.

Abhishek Nayar and Rohit Sharma carried the team in the initial games with vital centuries against Railways and Rajasthan, while Wasim Jaffer, Hiken Shah and Sushant Marathe came good in the later games. Suryakumar Yadav was a surprise package with his aggressive batting. Scoring at a strike rate of nearly 90, he helped assert Mumbai's dominance in a couple of instances in a Gilchrist-like manner. Another positive was the emergence of Kaustubh Pawar, which went a long way in mitigating the absence of Kukreja.

The absence of a regular opener to partner Pawar is a handicap that can hurt the team in the knock-out matches where a strong opening partnership will be important. This makes Jaffer's demotion down the order even more puzzling. Pawar and Jaffer at the top, with Nayar, SK Yadav, Hiken Shah to follow makes it a more stable order, with the lower order batsmen more than capable of pitching in with runs, as seen through the performances of Iqbal Abdullah, Dhawal Kulkarni and Ramesh Powar.

The absence of Nayar from the clash against Madhya Pradesh due to a thumb fracture is a major blow given that he is the leading scorer so far this season. Still, you would expect Mumbai to have enough batting power to tide them over despite his absence.

Bowling

The bowling has been more of a mixed bag this season. For one, off field controversies have dogged the team. Agarkar was dropped for the game against Orissa, and he has since made himself unavailable for the rest of the season. Despite all the jokes about him at international level, he has remained a massive performer at domestic level, and still has the skill levels to contribute to the Mumbai team. It is a situation that you feel could have been handled better.

One of the positives has been the emergence of Kshemal Waigankar and Balwinder Singh Sandhu Jnr to partner Dhawal Kulkarni and Avishkar Salvi in the pace attack. While Waingankar is a medium pace bowler at best, the performance of Sandhu against Punjab was very delightful, and has raised hopes of him being the next great Mumbai fast bowler.

Iqbal Abdullah continued on from his performances of last season to provide a vital attacking threat to complement the evergreen Ramesh Powar. He, however, will have to raise his game significantly if he is to start knocking on the doors of test cricket. This inconsistency in the bowling has been one of the main reasons of concern this season. In a situation not seen often, Mumbai conceded over 500 runs in an innings no fewer than three times.

Truly, this has been a blow-hot blow-cold season for them. In the games that Mumbai dominated - against Railways, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab - Mumbai conceeded only 24.1 runs per wicket, grabbing 70 wickets in the process. In the other games - against Rajasthan, Karnataka and Saurashtra - Mumbai conceeded 59.5 runs per wicket, grabbing only 33 wickets. This statistic alone tells the story of the season so far.

Clearly, a better and more consistent performance from the bowlers is required to win the title this season. However, the field for the knock-outs is weaker this season, with only Karnataka realistically expected to challenge for the title, despite the performances of Rajasthan last season. Mumbai face Madhya Pradesh in the quarters, and should go through, despite missing Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Nayar and Sushant Marathe. A seaming wicket is expected, given the performances of their pace attack of Sudhindra and Ishwar Pandey, who have taken 57 wickets between them this season, albeit in the Plate League. Still, with Kulkarni, Salvi, Sandhu and Waingankar to choose from, Mumbai should have little difficulty matching them in this department.

Expect a repeat of the 2009 final between Mumbai and Karnataka this season. Unless Mumbai fall prey to complacency, which was their undoing last year at the quarter final stage.

Mumbai vs Saurashtra Match Review

2011-12-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

Go read the review here by Foram.

India always loses when Tendulkar scores a hundred

2011-04-25T06:49:00.001-07:00

It has become something of a given. People are happy that Tendulkar did not score a hundred. Because we all know that if he does, India (or Mumbai) will definitely lose the game. Entire prayers were for the world cup were based around Tendulkar not scoring a hundred in the knock-out games. The sigh of relief when he was dismissed early in the final was heard all the way in Sri Lanka, who were probably wondering whether India were trying to be more than gracious hosts.

So, how true is it? Does India really lose every time Tendulkar scores a hundred?

A quick check reveals that of the 48 ODIs that Tendulkar has scored a hundred in, India have won 33 of them and lost 15, with one tie and one no result. That means India have only lost 27% of the games in which Tendulkar has scored a hundred, which is certainly not bad. In fact, starting 2007, Tendulkar has scored 8 hundreds, and India have won 5 and tied 1 of those, with a failure rate of 25%, so discernable difference there either.

In tests, the hypothesis makes even less sense. Of the 51 tests in which Tendulkar has scored a hundred, India have won 20, drawn 20 and lost 11. The failure rate here is only 22%. In the last 5 years, the failure rate from 16 tests falls to under 19% (8 wins and 5 draws). In fact, the highest this number has ever been is 32% in 1999. The success rate (for wins) was always in the tens and twenties in the 1990s, and since 2002, has steadily gone up to almost 40%.

So, how did this urban legend of India's loss being caused by Tendular's hundreds come about? Probably due to sheer numbers. Most people score as many centuries as Tendulkar does in losing causes. Plus, some epic centuries by him resulted in losses due to the brain dead batting of the players who followed. Such things tend to stick in the memory longer. And good old confirmatory bias probably plays a part as well.

Next time, do yourself and others a favour. Stop this India loses whenever Tendulkar scores a hundred nonsense and just enjoy the game.

Mumbai Indians season review so far

2011-04-25T04:20:00.000-07:00

This season is shaping up similar to last season when Mumbai went on a winning spree in the league phase. And if anything, they look even stronger. The middle order is now scarily powerful after the addition of Andrew Symonds and Rohit Sharma (something that Ian Chappell, of all people, thought was injudicious spending, so thank fuck he's not the coach), and even the opening pair, which was pretty good last season, looks formidable with the addition of Davy Jacobs. The bowling hasn't changed at all from last season, except for the swap of Munaf Patel for Zaheer Khan, which really hasn't hurt us one bit, especially since Munaf has learnt to become a craftier bowler.

However, the one aspect where Mumbai are far ahead of other teams is fielding. The wall of a Symonds-Sharma-Pollard-Saty.hish offside cordon is a hard one to break on just about any day, to say nothing about their contribution in terms of some absolutely brilliant catches. Add to this improved fielding from other members, such as Malinga, who ordinarily is only a languid fielder, a genuine keeper in Jacobs and the reliable hands of Tendulkar and Harbhajan, and you can almost get away with having Munaf sit in a corner somewhere, out of harms way. To be faThe Ryir to him though, even Munaf has been making a bit of an effort with his ungainly slides. It only adds to the pressure.

And so, Mumbai have been generally winning games at a canter. They were only seriously troubled by Kochi, who were aided by a couple of brilliant innings from McCullum and Jayawardene. Even Chennai, who threatened to make a game of it, crumbled in the face of the best ever fielding performance seen in the IPL.

Some observations and rants at the Cricinfo types:

There really is nothing left to be said about Tendulkar that isn't already a cliché, and even this is a cliché. So I am going to talk about Rohit Sharma, my second most favourite player on the team - I do have a soft spot for players from Mumbai. A lot of people were questioning his price tag of $2 million, but as he has shown in the previous editions, he is a very consistent performer, at least in the IPL. I always thought that Deccan made a huge mistake in letting him go, but it was just as well for Mumbai, who were keen on getting him for the past 2 years. I really hope he can use this season as a launching pad for more consistent performances at the national level. While his talent is in no doubt, he even showed a willingness to grit it out in the Ranji Trophy last year. Hopefully this is the start of greater things for him.

Cricinfo's quick evaluation that Mumbai's attack is heavily dependent on Malinga after the Kochi defeat, and its equally quick retraction after the Chennai victory was really irritating. Obviously, when you have a bowler of Malinga's caliber, you look to him to provide the early breakthroughs and soften up the opposition. But it does not follow that the team is a one man attack when the bowling is taken apart. The Kochi bowling performance was really just an off day. Sure Malinga's absense would hurt, no doubt, but it doesn't mean that there are no other bowlers capable of taking wickets or stemming the flow of runs.

Everyone and his uncle has been tagging Ali Murtaza as the team's weakest link. He probably is not assured of his place in every game, but I think that the tag is patently unfair to him. For one, he is playing ahead of players such as Dhaval Kulkarni and Abu Nechim (though Nechim did get a look in ahead of Murtaza against Chennai and Deccan). For another, the guy bowls with a lot of heart, and has generally gone about his job in a quiet manner, often opening the bowling. In fact, he is at his best (in terms of economy rate) when he is bowling in the powerplay overs, conceding only 5.33 RPO at this stage. Quite a valuable asset to have then. One aspect of his game he needs to improve on, though, is on how he tends to fall away in the fourth over of his spell, conceding 9.50 RPO, as against an RPO of 6.60 otherwise. He is, however, not a death bowler, which perhaps explains this oddity, as most of his fourth overs have come in the last 5 overs of an innings. Still, when Mumbai need a second spinner, they could do far worse than given Murtaza an extended run.

Brilliant start to the season - Delhi Daredevils match review

2011-04-10T06:43:00.001-07:00

There is always a lot of anticipation if you are a Mumbai fan going into a game against Delhi. While the rivalry today is not as intense as it was back in the '80s, it does have a presence even today, especially in the Ranji Trophy. The IPL is slightly different, with few local players lining up on either side, but for ardent Mumbai fans, this is always a must win game.

The excitement leading up to the game this season, however, was not very high, even if there was a sense of anticipation for the first game of the season - mainly due to the relatively weak squad Delhi have assembled this season. Even so, the game was a bit of an anti-climax with Mumbai easily defeating Delhi to hand them one of their worst defeats in the IPL. On the form of this game, I expect Delhi to struggle to remain competitive against similarly tough opposition.

The pitch looked like it had a bit of movement in it, though it was puzzling why Delhi did not go for a green top given that they have eight fast/medium fast bowling options in their squad. Maybe they were worried about the damage Malinga could have caused on such a pitch. As it turned out, they need not have bothered as Malinga absolutely flattened the Delhi batting with unplayable yorker after yorker. Indeed, it was only at the very end that he even needed a fielder to help him get a wicket. Five for thirteen, a great performance. No wonder he is loved so much in Mumbai.

Delhi were also not helped by some indecisive running, and Sehwag's run-out due to a brilliant direct hit by Tendulkar really knocked the stuffing out of them, as the rest of the batsmen hardly ever put up a fight. Naman Ojha and Venugopal Rao managed a brief recovery, but they were never allowed to run away with it with some good bowling by Murtuza accounting for Ojha, before Malinga came back to flatten the tail.

A target of 96 was never really going to threaten Mumbai. Delhi's bowlers worked up a lovely pace in response, with Ashok Dinda and Umesh Yadav surprising everyone by regularly touching the 140 mark. Even Irfan Pathan managed to get a smooth action going. Davy Jacobs came in with a lot of expectations at the top of the order, but he was beaten by a lovely ball from Morne Morkel who got one to nip away ever so slightly.

The small target afforded Mumbai the luxury of starting slowly. Tendulkar started scratchily with a few edges and a dropped chance at widish first slip. Though Rayadu also perished early, being run-out by a brilliant bit of fielding by Roelof van der Merwe, Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma ensured that there would be no hiccups in the chase. Rohit was very lucky early on, when umpire Saheba adjudged him not out to an Irfan Pathan delivery that looked like it pitched on, hit him in front of and was hitting the leg stump. However, he soon managed to get into the groove, and much as Tendulkar later remarked, he showed his talent by playing some lovely shots, including three fours in an over against Morkel. Tendulkar managed to step up the pace late on as well, and he even hit a six against van der Merwe. Sign of his approach to this season after a largely risk free batting performance last season?

So, while the victory does feel great, and Mumbai look like strong contenders for the title this season, the effects of a longish season of cricket need to be seen, even if that is true for all teams. Tougher opposition awaits, with Royal Challengers Bangalore the next hurdle. Of the two groups, Mumbai are in the easier one, with Delhi and Kings XI Punjab looking like whipping boys of the group, and they really should finish in the top two and make the newly designed play-offs at the semi-final stage.

Man of the match: Lasith Malinga (3.4-1-13-5)

The best crowd in the country?

2010-03-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

This is from cricinfo:

The fans at the Chinnaswamy Stadium have been loud and proud, and backed their team with real passion. At the Brabourne, they ratchet up the volume even more though. The chants of "Sachin, Sachin" can drive you to earplugs, and Malinga will surely not have enjoyed such backing in Colombo. Even with Bangalore cruising to victory, the crowd never lost its buzz and even the late and irrelevant run-out of Virat Kohli was celebrated fervently. On the way home, I saw at least five cabs with Mumbai Indians' flags being waved out of the window. The club culture is certainly taking root.

I have written previously the Mumbai crowd previously. We have seen that fans from Kolkata can be the most passionate in the country. But they are also notorious for turning on the home team when things don't go well. I haven't seen fans of other franchises being as passionate about their team. If there is one team that can count on its fans to act as a catalyst, it is Mumbai Indians.

We are Mumbaikars, and we are proud of it.

Is this really an upset?

2010-03-17T15:27:00.000-07:00

After a couple of underwhelming seasons, Mumbai Indians are top of the IPL points table for the first time ever in their short history. Its a good feeling to have, more so given the form the team is in judging by the two games they have played so far.

Mumbai against Delhi is always the biggest game of the league season for both teams in the Ranji Trophy. That intense rivalry hasn't quite transported itself into the IPL, but the anticipation still remains. The only win that Mumbai had over Delhi in first two seasons of the IPL was at home in 2008, pushed through the finish line with the crowd acting as a very real twelfth man. In the lead up to the game, Gambhir called for the crowd to get behind Delhi, but as with most Mumbai games, the crowd cheered Tendulkar more than the local team. Can be frustrating, I imagine, if you play for Delhi Daredevils.

The big news ahead of this game was the availability of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard, and they replaced Ryan McLaren and Ali Murtaza, both of whom had poor games against Rajasthan. Sanath Jayasuriya retained his place, ahead of JP Duminy, who looks like he hasn't yet recovered from his injury. No place yet for Abhishek Nayar and Dhaval Kulkarni, but looking at the team composition, it is hard to see who they can replace. Perhaps Nayar coming in for Sathish is an option, but given Sathish's electric presence in the field, that is unlikely to happen.

The batting has been really good in the first two games. Tendulkar has carried over his form from ODIs into this tournament, and he has managed to set the tempo for the rest of the team. Jayasuriya doesn't quite look out of sorts when batting, but you can sense that age has caught up with him. He might still be good for a few runs this season, but you have to think that Duminy will be more consistent.

Aditya Tare as wicket-keeper looks like a huge improvement over Pinal Shah and Yogesh Takawale. The guy can bat, even if it is in cameos at present, and his keeping skills are notch above what we have had so far. Given that he is a local lad, he gets my thumbs up.

Where Mumbai suffered in their previous two seasons was the lack of good performances from the Indian players in the middle order, with the exception of Nayar. With Saurabh Tiwary and Ambati Rayadu in the middle order, this is now our biggest strength this season. I wasn't sure about Tiwary in previous seasons, but he has been superb so far this season. With Rayadu, it was always a question of temparament, rather than talent, and while it is too early to call, the initial signs are promising. Signing him up along with Sathish was one of the smartest moves made by Mumbai this season. Now suddenly, we have a middle order that reads Tiwary, Rayadu, Bravo, Pollard and Sathish, with Bhajji and Zak to follow, in addition to having Duminy, Nayar and Shikhar Dhawan on the bench. As formidable as we can hope for.

Too often, in the previous seasons, we had Bravo or Duminy throwing away good positions with daft dismissals or failing to provide the acceleration that was needed. Part of the reason for that was the lack of back-up, but that looks to have been rectified this season, on evidence of how Tiwary and Rayadu have managed to power Mumbai to huge totals so far. Plus, keeping back Bravo gives the team the advantage of having a finisher along with Pollard.

Bowling was not a huge worry in the first two seasons, even if the team was prone to brain freezes in close games. However, the team looks far more potent this season than it ever did. Zak and Malinga are on form, with Bravo and Pollard as back-up seamers with their clever variations. Add Bhajji and Jayasuriya/Duminy into the mix, and you have a bowling attack that looks very good on paper.

Mumbai have thoroughly outplayed their opponents in both games so far, notwithstanding Yusuf Pathan's audacious innings. Take him out, and the rest of the Rajasthan team barely put up a fight. Having 200+ totals to defend certainly must have an effect on our bowling performance, but the way in which the top order was taken out of the equation in both games augurs well for the remaining games this season.

Which brings me to the premise of the title. Cricinfo called this result an upset, but is it really so? Granted that Delhi were the form team going into this team, while Mumbai have been light weights so far this season. But when you have a line-up that has regular batsmen all the way down to number eight with a couple of biffers to follow, and a really varied bowling attack that can be chokingly accurate on its day, was it such a mismatch leading into the game that this result can be termed an upset? I have the advantage of hindsight here, but a 98 run win in this form of the game shows that Mumbai are as good as Delhi, if not better, this season.

Indeed, the team looks really formidable now. Just before the IPL started, I figured Mumbai will be one of the teams in the semi-finals, but now, I will change that assessment. I will consider it to a huge upset if Mumbai do not make the semi-finals. What remains to be seen is how the team reacts in close games. The first couple of seasons, Mumbai fumbled close finishes to rival Ishant Sharma collecting throws to run out batsmen. They did well to keep out Yusuf Pathan and Rajasthan in the first game, but sterner tests will be ahead.

Mumbai vs Rest Of India Day 1

2009-10-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

Rest of India - Fall of Wickets

Day 1 - Magic Moments

Hasselhoffs redux

2009-05-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Another game against KKR, another win. Four in a row, woohoo! Way to go, etc. etc. I could chirrup about what a great team Mumbai are, how they have a chance to go top of the table, how they deserve to be top of the table, but I won't. I don't actually believe that is true.

Call me cynical, call me too demanding as a fan, but there are certain things that you expect of a Mumbai team, no matter what the competition. And this Mumbai team is not there yet. Last time around, I wanted a performance by the middle order, and promptly, to give them that opportunity, both Sachin and Sanath got out cheaply! Great chance for the middle order to prove itself. Instead, it just spluttered along, and it was really a one man show by Duminy. That we got to 148 was largely due to a sensible innings by him, holding up one end for most of the innings, and accelerating at the end.

Perhaps its time that we revisit our expectations when we bat. Last year, a score of 180 was the minimum you would target, batting first. In South Africa, the pitches have aided the bowlers a bit more, and 160 looks like a winning total. So far this season, only twice has a team successfully chased a total of 160+ in ten attempts. And in 18 attempts at chasing a score of 140+, teams have been successful 8 times, with one of them ending in a tie. I would rather Mumbai aim for 160 at the start and get there, rather than aim for 180 and end up at 140 or 150. With our bowling attack, 160 should be defendable.

The other lingering concern is the number of dot balls played. 39% of the balls faced were dot balls (if you exclude Duminy's innings, that number goes up to 46%). That in T20, is way too many. Even in fifty over cricket, that is a sign of a struggling team. Getting that number down to 20% is itself worth an extra 20 runs to the total. This clearly is another area that needs to be addressed soon. Teams better than KKR (yes, Mumbai are clearly not the best team even if they look like the best on paper) will definitely exploit this, would have probably even chased down the target of 149.

Mumbai are fast acquiring a reputation as chokers, and this is not unjustified. Out of the nine defeats they have suffered in the IPL so far, six could rightfully be classified as chokes. The victory against KKR was the closest win they have ever had, and hopefully the team has learnt something about winning close games.

That said, I still believe that Mumbai can go all the way, and are in fact, the best equipped team to do that. But for that, they need to iron out these chinks. There is still a lot of time to set this right, and I think they will only get better as the season goes along. I really don't mind these blips if it means that the team will start peaking towards the business end of the league.

Next game is against the Kingfishers, who are on a mini-run of their own. It should be a win for Mumbai, but like KKR showed, a little bit of complacency can come back to bite you. Especially this season, every team looks capable of defeating every other team (with the notable exception of KKR who would be relegation material if there were a division 2).

Just do the basic things right, rotate the strike more often, aim for a more sensible target. Aim to play atleast 25 balls. And for heaven's sake, Bhajji is a surprise option, not your regular number 3 batsman. Send Rahane at number 3, that's where he has scored most of his runs in domestic cricket. Or instead, if an early wicket falls, go with Napier. Thats all from me. Best of luck, lads!

Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders Review

2009-04-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

People talk of Mumbai-Delhi as one of the biggest rivalries in Indian cricket. That's certainly true, but even Delhi have not got onto my nerves as much as KKR, starting right from the team owner. Which is why I think the fake IPL player is one of the best things that happened to the IPL (since Mumbai haven't won it yet). Which is also why defeating KKR gives me a tad greater pleasure than defeating DDD!

I did not get to watch the game, so I cannot comment on the details, but what caught my eye was the intent at the start. Tendulkar simply raced off the blocks like ... (well, when was the last time he did that anyway?) and when Jayasuriya joined in, it looked like absolute mayhem. In fact, judging from the cricinfo commentary, the intensity looked good all through the game. An extremely clinical performance.

There are lots of things that look right about Mumbai. Both Jayasuriya and Tendulkar look in great nick, and when they get it right, it will end up being a royal hammering for the opposition. The bowling looks very good as well, and Malinga in particular is extremely hard to get away, with those toe crushing yorkers of his. The fielding has some scope for improvement, especially in reducing the number of misfields, and in the throwing technique, but otherwise it looks very good as well.

The only negative point is the continued below-par performance of the middle order. The potential is clearly there, but for some reason, they haven't fired yet. It is not concerning yet, as it is still very early days, but I'd love to see them turn in that one performance that will cause the other teams to start sweating. Apart from that, it was a near perfect day. There was a great opening partnership, we batted the opposition out of the game, and ruthlessly dismantled them in the field.

I was talking to Homer yesterday about the thin batting order that Mumbai have. Pinal Shah coming in at number 9 means that the team is already a batsman short, and it does end up placing a lot of pressure on the tail, especially in close games like against Deccan. My suggestion was to promote Bhajji up the order so that the regular batsman are batting in the final overs, and what do you know, Tendlya actually promoted Bhajji up the order! (I think Homer is sneaking information to the team and taking credit for it - he claims he does that by telepathy, having stolen the means of that from Buchanan - but as long as Mumbai wins, I don't really care. More power to Homer and his activities!)

While it is a brilliant idea (obviously!), I think it was used at the wrong time. The reason for promoting Bhajji is to have your regular batsman batting in close run chases, and with 9 wickets in hand with 7 overs to go, it wasn't really needed today. Unfortunately, the surprise element will be lost the next time Bhajji comes up the order. But that doesn't mean it can't work either. Sadly, I did not communicate this to Homer yesterday. If only!

I think this is a good time to start working on squad rotation. Obviously, no one will play all the games, and this is as good a time as any to try out the bench strength. Shikhar Dhawan looks a bit out of touch and so he can be given a break, with Rahane getting a couple of games. Likewise, rotate Jayasuriya/Duminy/Bravo with Napier/McLaren/Ashraful to give them a hit in match situations. And later, give Zak and Slinga a break.

Next up are the bubblies led by the Prince of Patiala. While a tougher game than KKR, it should still be a win for Mumbai. While their batting is fairly good (though not good enough for our bowling), their bowling looks very thin. It is a potential banana skin, given how Mumbai lost to Deccan, but Mumbai should avoid the same mistakes and come out on top here.

Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers Review

2009-04-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

It totally sucks waking up at 5:30 in the morning and watching your team lose! Can't say I haven't had any practice, after having done that for most of the 90s. This was a game that Mumbai threw away. Only two matches in, and I am already finding faults with the team.

I can't be bothered to do a full review, so I'll stick to a couple of points from the game.

First, the bowling attack really did keep us in the game. Gibbs and Gilchrist started off looking as though they were in their prime, and there was nothing the bowlers could do to stop the run flow at that stage. However, they fought back (with a bit of luck along the way, courtesy Venugopal Rao running out Gibbs) brilliantly to keep what looked like 200+ at one stage to 168.

It is a bit ironic that the player Mumbai deemed surplus to requirements - Dwayne Smith - played such an important role in defeating us. He batted brilliantly, bowled well to keep the run rate down, and took that catch of Duminy. In short, everything that we normally expect Bravo to do, who looked a bit short of his best.

Tendulkar is clearly no fan of the strategy break, and he must have only deeper resentment for it, seeing as how the break totally killed the team's momentum. That said, the batting post Tendulkar's dismissal resembled a headless chicken running around the field. Granted, Ojha is difficult to get away, but the batsmen should really have targetted Venugopal Rao to maintain the run-rate. Letting him get away for only ten runs in his first two overs was just not on. An extra 5-10 runs in those two overs could well have been the difference between a win and a loss, considering we only lost by 12 runs.

Two games, two middle order failures. Tendulkar looked very good at the top, and as long as he was batting, there was no doubt Mumbai would win. Duminy played a good innings too, but surely, Dhawan and Bravo need to add that little bit more in terms of batting. Dhawan, in particular, looks a far cry from the player of last season. To be fair, the batting has not been an absolute failure, but when you have Bhajji coming in at five down, the batting looks a bit thin and you cannot afford to have a couple of players fail in the game. Hopefully, the team management is working on fixing this problem.

Bowling-wise, we had Zaheer, Malinga, Bhajji, Bravo, Jayasuriya and Kulkarni. With Nayar, Duminy and Tendulkar also capable of sending down an over or two, it looks like overkill. Much as I would love to see Kulkarni playing, it make more sense to shore up the batting by bringing in Saurabh Tiwary. In both games that Mumbai have played so far, the batting has been caught a bit short, while the designated fifth bowler (Raje/Kulkarni) has only bowled one over.

Alternately, it might be helpful to have someone in the middle order who can blitz away in the middle/late overs. I would play Graham Napier instead of Bravo for a couple of games to see if the idea works out. We'll lose Bravo, the bowler, but that will be an opportunity for Kulkarni to bowl his full quota. Plus, Napier himself is capable of bowling some spin.

Next game is against Kolkata, and going by current form, it should be an easy win for Mumbai. Kolkata's bowling has just not fired so far, and shouldn't cause too many problems for Mumbai, while Malinga, Zaheer and Bhajji should be able to cope with the threat of Gayle and McCullum.

Our next four games are Kolkata, Punjab, Kolkata (weird that we play Kolkata twice before we play Bangalore or Delhi even once!) and Bangalore. All emminently winnable, and a great chance to get some momentum going in to the tougher set of fixtures.

Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians Review

2009-04-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

We're back after a long hiatus. What to say, except that not watching the Ranji Trophy means you don't have a perspective on the game.

Very good start to the tournament for Mumbai, as they defeat Chennai by 20 runs. At the outset, Mumbai is a stronger team than last year. The bowling, especially, has strengthened considerably with the arrival of Zaheer Khan and Kyle Mills, and the return from injury of Lasith Malinga.

A bit of rain before the game meant that the pitch had some juice in it, and Dhoni made the right choice in deciding to bowl first. Tendulkar, however, sussed out the conditions perfectly, and decided that 145-150 will be a competitive total. The key, however, would be in not losing early wickets, and to that end, he and Jayasuriya gave Mumbai a reasonably good start.

A pitch invasion notwithstanding (by a canine, of all creatures that invade pitches), Mumbai drifted along sedately at around 6 runs an over, till suddenly the middle order collapsed. At that stage, 140 would have been a good total to get. As Mumbai fans have seen so often in the past, Abhishek Nayar came to the rescue, and roughed up Flintoff a bit. Three sixes in an over. And to think those were the only sixes in the Mumbai innings! And that really was the difference between a defendable and a competitive total.

The target of 166 had the experts claiming that Mumbai were slight favourites to win this particular game, though I disagreed. The pitch had eased out after the initial few overs, and the manner in which Mumbai scored 60 off the last five overs meant that Chennai, with their superior batting, could do the same.

However, Mumbai bowled to a plan. The six overs of powerplay were bowled by Zaheer, Malinga and Bravo, and cost only 40 runs. In the middle overs, Bhajji and Jayasuriya cleverly bowled flat and hit full lengths to keep Chennai scoring at only about a run a ball. By the time the quicks were reintroduced, Chennai needed 75 from 7 overs, and a combination of fast yorkers and slow loopy bouncers choked Chennai from the game.

So, what do we learn from this game? One, with a bowling attack with four quality internationals, Mumbai will win games more often than not, as long as the batting doesn't throw it away. Two, the team looks very well balanced, with seven bowling options, and batting down to number eight. However, if the middle order fails, like it did today, the batting looks somewhat brittle. But that should not happen often, and Nayar's presence at number six means that the situation is never hopeless! Three, there is good depth in the squad. We have cover for every single player in the team, and that is going to come in handy in a tournament like this, with each team playing three games a week.

Not all is hunky-dory though. It was strange that Rohan Raje got in ahead of Dhaval Kulkarni. Kulkarni has more pace than Raje, and after his trip to New Zealand, he is better placed to exploit the conditions in South Africa. Unless he has an injury that I have not heard of, which would be tragic, if true. The other aspect bothering me is the 'keepers we have. Not even in the best of days will I rate Pinal Shah or Yogesh Takawle as anything other than journeymen. Unfortunately, the only other 'keeper we have is Luke Ronchi, and given that you cannot really drop any of Jayasuriya, Malinga, Bravo and Duminy, we have to made do with Shah or Takawle.

Given the way today's games panned out, it is safe to say that bowlers will be a lot more important this season than the last. That said, it will be the fast bowlers and spinners who will hold the trumps, by exploiting the bounce in the wickets. In other words, the dibbly-dobblers who are neither here nor there will get targetted for quick runs. Equally important will be how the Indian players adjust to the extra bounce here, and on the evidence of the second game, that will not be easy. Doesn't matter how many South Africans you have in the team and support staff. And this is where Mumbai should find it somewhat easier, with most of the local players spending a month in South Africa training for the tournament.

The atmosphere in the ground today was a bit funereal, though it picked up during game two. Guess they are all Rajasthan fans in that country. Even though I can only watch the games on TV, I already miss the Mumbai fans egging on the team and barracking the opponents.

My predictions for the final four are Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore. But given that flipping a coin should yield better predictions, I'm sure that will come back to bite me.

Final thoughts - Shane Warne's spell today was absolutely magical. That alone was worth the entrance money. He was far too good for the Bangalore line-up with his flippers and ripping leg breaks. You can name him in Australia's test line-up tomorrow, and he should still be able to win them the game!!

Update: Read Bhajji's views on the game here. There isn't a lot in terms of inisghts into the game, hopefully there will be some in future. Not sure if it is actually Bhajji, but since Bid Adda has listed this on their celebrity blogs page, it probably is.

A lopsided win!

2008-11-06T06:15:00.000-08:00

Mumbai scored a convincing 237-run victory against Rajasthan to start their campaign on an ominous note.

states the Cricinfo match report. And it is ominous all right - for Mumbai.

Here is the scorecard for that match and it makes for interesting reading. Batsmen who scored in the first innings decided to go to AWOL in the second. And batsmen who scored in the second innings failed to do anything of note in the first.

Amol Muzumdar failed in both innings.

The one batting success Mumbai have, Rohit Sharma, will soon be lost to the team for the England series. And given Rahul Dravid's shaky form, Sharma may be lost to Mumbai for the rest of the season.

And given that Mumbai's path in the Ranji Trophy is only going to get harder ( Delhi, Punjab and Saurashtra), the batting performance leaves much to be desired.

Ditto the bowling performance. In the first innings, Dhawal Kulkarni and Romesh Pawar were the only wicket takers. In the second innings, the spoils were shared by Kulkarni, Powar and Malvi.

Agarkar and Bahutule were no shows, with bat and ball.
This does not augur well for Mumbai for the rest of the campaign.

And finally, the team selection itself.

Where is Abhishek Nayar? And Iqbal Abdulla?

Abdulla was the go to guy last season so where is he now?

And Sairaj Bahutuule, 36 year old with creaking knees with no form or performance to speak of ahead of the campaign, ahead of Abhishek Nayar?

Hiken Shah will come in for Rohit Sharma in the next round but how is this team going to slot Abhishek Nayar in?

And what happened to selection continuity? How is Bahutule even in a Mumbai cap? Iqbal Abdulla was the ungroomed heir to Nilesh Kulkarni's spot, so why is Ankit Chavan being played in the squad instead?

Mumbai may have won by a comfortable margin against Rajasthan, but the win raises more questions than answers.

And that is ominous.

2008 - 2009 Season Preview

2008-10-25T00:33:00.000-07:00

After the disappointment of not even qualifying for the semi-finals last season, Mumbai will be itching to set the record straight this time around. The longest that Mumbai have gone without winning the Ranji Trophy is eight years, from 1986 to 1993, which includes the loss to Haryana in the 1991 final. Since then, Mumbai haven't gone more than two seasons without winning the trophy.

As hard as it was to see Mumbai not even qualifying for the knock-out stage last season, it was made a lot worse by the sight of Delhi winning the trophy, although, in all fairness, they deserved to win it. If the team really is hurting as much as the news reports suggested they were, expect a strong performance this season.

This season, Mumbai have been drawn into the group of eight, and the game against Delhi should be the highlight of the season. None of the teams in the group look like walkovers, though the games against Orissa and Gujarat should be relatively easy.

On the face of it, the squad does not inspire a lot of confidence. But the probables for this season have been chosen along the lines of the youth policy of the Vengsarkar selection committee. Last season, Mumbai squandered points in games where they should not have, and almost lost a game they should have won comfortably. All said, it was a below par performance from the team. However, with the youngsters in the team gaining first class experience, one would hope that they will put in a much better performance this time around.

There have already been a few controversial selection decisions. The most suprising of these has been the choice of captain - Wasim Jaffer ahead of Amol Muzumdar. Sairaj Bahutule comes back to the squad after briefly defecting over to Maharashtra, while Nilesh Kulkarni, though included in the list of probables, has been omitted from the squad to play Rajasthan.

Strengths:

1) With Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag forming a great opening partnership for India, Wasim Jaffer should be available for most of this season. His performances at the domestic level have been good, and should continue to remain so.

2) The youngsters in the team have shown great potential, and should convert them into improved performances this season. Sahil Kukreja, Ajinkya Rahane and Hiken Shah have shown what they are capable of in the past seasons. Dhaval Kulkarni, while inexperienced, showed his composure during the IPL, though it remains to be seen whether he can sustain the same level of performance in the Ranji Trophy. The form of these players will make or break Mumbai's season.

3) Ajit Agarkar may have been a bit of a joke when playing for India, but he has had his moments with the ball. Moreover, he has always been a consistent performer at the domestic level, and he should be Mumbai's leading bowler.

4) Abhishek Nayar's all round abilities, and especially his ability to score quick runs even in difficult circumstances lends vital balance to the team. Expect a very good season from him.

Weaknesses:

1) The bowling attack is inexperienced. Apart from Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar and Sairaj Bahutule, none of the others have any significant experience bowling at this level, while Nilesh Kulkarni finds himself strangely sidelined. The return of Swapnil Hazare and Avishkar Salvi from injuries (whenever that happens) will significantly boost the team.

2) The sacking of Muzumdar as captain might affect the team spirit. However, this is an issue that should be easily resolved.

3) Lack of squad depth. There are no significant replacements in case of further injuries. Siddharth Chitnis might be able to perform as a back-up batsman, but Rohan Raje (right arm medium pace) and Ankeet Chavan (left arm spin) do not inspire any sort of confidence. To be fair, Nilesh Kulkarni and Iqbal Abdullah should be able to step in quite well, though neither of them made the cut for the squad against Rajasthan.

Season prediction: As always, Mumbai will be aiming to win the title. Realistically though, I see a semi-final finish, which, while an improvement over last season, is probably not good enough. However, the team is in transition, and is more likely to win the Ranji Trophy next season. A much better picture will be obtained after the game against Rajasthan.

Season 2008-09

2008-08-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

The list of probables.

The groupings.

Format changes.