Mumbai Indians vs. Deccan Chargers - SuperSport Park, Centurion – 6th May 2009

After his match-winning effort against Chennai Super Kings in their first league encounter, Gibbs has scores of 8, 0 and 0. When an early wicket goes for the Deccan Chargers, it is bound to be a struggle. Gibbs went early again and Gilchrist seemed to attempt something different today, though the game plan didn’t seem clear to viewers. If it was to play through the innings, it was uncharacteristic for Gilly who has been better off blasting away at the top of the order to provide a platform. Gilly himself acknowledged the mistake he made – it was probably the shot he attempted that made him lose his wicket in the 10th over rather than his plan to play longer with more caution.

Take away Dwayne Smith from this line-up, the only big name is Rohit Sharma who can be expected to play an innings of substance, and he seems to be a disinterested performer in recent times. He pottered around to get 38 off 36 balls, and if the one six and two fours he hit are taken off, the pace at which this Indian International batted becomes apparent. At no time did he make any attempt to accelerate or force the bowlers to change their line or length. He seemed to play a content innings before holing out the first ball of the 18th over from Malinga into long on’s hands. A two paced wicket where shot making was difficult was what Rohit mentioned while speaking after his Man of the Match award, but this was the same wicket where lesser known players like Suman for Chargers and Pinal Shah for Mumbai later played aggressive little cameos with big hits to the fence.

Venugopala Rao chipped in with 28 off 17 balls, which in the ultimate analysis gave the Chargers a total they ended up winners with! Either he or RP Singh deserved the Man of the Match for they performed when the odds were loaded against them.

A bowling line-up that has just RP Singh with no Pragyan Ojha, and the likes of medium pacers Harmeet Singh and Shoaib who go at 9+ an over should not give a side with big international names much concern if they are chasing under 150. L Sivaramakrishnan didn’t waste a breath in stating the Mumbai Indians will win. And they should have.

But the Mumbai Indians were off to the worst possible start. RP Singh went wide seeing Jayasuriya coming down the wicket. Jayasuriya slashed hard only for Ryan Harris run in from third-man and hold on to a wonderful tumbling catch. The next ball was bowled brilliantly by PR Singh. It swung back into Tendulkar who was clumsily positioned at the crease trying to work the ball to mid-wicket and playing across the line. He left, with his pads helping deflect the ball to rattle the off and middle stump. 7 for 2 in the second over.

Pinal Shah occupied the number three slot for this game, and played according to the game plan (as per Tendulkar in the post game interview). His partnership with Duminy, and that of Duminy with Bravo later seemed to have Mumbai on course when the score was 97 for 3 in 14 overs.

Just 49 runs to get in 6 overs with seven wickets in hand, Duminy and Bravo well set. A Deccan Chargers attack with no Pragyan Ojha and two RP Singh overs. And then Mumbai began their self destruction. Suman bowled a tight length but Bravo chose to show his strength and failed, Ryan Harris taking another good catch on the ropes at long on.

Gilchrist sure would not have hoped for any wickets but just tighten up runs when he threw the ball to Rohit Sharma. And what happens? Here is from the cricinfo commentary

15.5 Sharma to Nayar, OUT, bowled him, and Mumbai are losing the plot! Rohit keeps it flat on middle and leg, Nayar moves across to sweep and misses it, the ball doesn't turn that much and hits leg stump.

Note: It is off spinner Sharma bowling to left hander Nayar and hitting his leg stump!

15.6 Sharma to Harbhajan Singh, OUT, another one bites the dust! Rohit tosses it just a tad short outside off, Harbhajan plays a cheeky sweep to try and beat short fine leg but bottom-edges onto the stumps.

And then

17.1 Sharma to Duminy, OUT, and he's got it! Rohit Sharma gets three in three! He fires down the leg stumps, no air whatsoever, Duminy moves back and tries to play it over square leg but gets a thin inside edge which Gilchrist, smartly anticipating, holds onto as he moves across.

Three batsmen throw away wickets. Nayar missed a straight ball going for a sweep, Harbhajan was in la-la land trying to sweep a straight one outside his off stump and dragging it onto his stumps, and then the well set Duminy, who should have just let the ball go down leg and collected a wide, paddles a catch off his bat and then pad to the alert Gilchrist!

All talk by the commentators about Deccan Chargers regrouping and bouncing back after three straight losses was pure rubbish. A moderate total was made a mountainous one by some irresponsible shot selection by the Mumbai Indians. Gilchrist himself acknowledged that there were a lot of areas to work on for the side.

Trust the commentators to find a scapegoat for the loss, and the man chosen was Duminy!! “He is not a finisher” was the accusation led by Rameez Raja, who made up for Ranjit Fernando not being on air today! Someone needs to check the score cards and statistics for it will then become apparent that if Duminy had not held and repaired the damage he walked into, Mumbai Indians would have been looking at a more dismal performance!

Mumbai seem to have a lot of confusion over who bats at the number three slot. In their first game against Chennai Super Kings it was Shikar Dhawan, against Deccan Chargers it was Duminy, Harbhajan Singh came in at three in both the Kolkata Knight Rider games and Ajinkya Rahane was sent in one down against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Today it was Pinal Shah, and Tendulkar credited him for playing according to the game plan. The Game Plan however has not been helping them win games, and the batsmen must be muddled about their role and slots.
The talented Ajinkya Rahane has got just two games, while India U-19’s dashing Saurabh Tiwary has played in four games. Tiwary however must be a very confused lad wondering what his role is when he sees the likes of Harbhajan and even Zaheer Khan bat ahead of him.

While their bowlers have done a good job, led by the consistent Malinga, the batsmen seem to be losing the plot completely. The first loss to Deccan Chargers was by 12 runs, where they were chasing 169 and placed comfortably at 80 odd for one wicket in 10 overs. They failed to get 120 in 20 overs against Kings XI Punjab, failing by 4 runs.

Assuming Chennai and Delhi are well entrenched to make it to the semis, it leaves two spots for the other sides. From the same number of games played, Mumbai Indians are short by 2 points compared to Rajasthan Royals, and on par with Royal Challengers and Kings XI Punjab.

In a tournament where the net run rate will come in play, Mumbai are placed well with a positive figure that is second only to the Chennai Super Kings. But they have a schedule that could place them at a big disadvantage. Starting Friday they play every alternate day, with their penultimate match on 16th May 09. They play the last game on 21st May, against the Delhi Daredevils. Between 16th and 21st May, six games fearuting four other aspirants to the last four, play every day. All teams will know where Mumbai Indians are placed, and are advantageously placed to work their strategies. Having to play Delhi Daredevils twice now, and no game against KKR makes things difficult for Mumbai.

Grit and determination are characteristics of Mumbai sides. Always feared and respected by the opposition. But as a good cricketing friend put it across this morning – this isn’t a Mumbai side, but a Mumbai “Indians” side!