Mumbai Indians fluffing opening lines once again
Getting their opening pair right has always been tricky for Mumbai Indians. It has been no different in the ninth edition of the IPL.
The defending champions have already used three different combinations in four matches, not due to any game plan but in desperation. But a look at how they went about it during their two title campaigns shows that it was the strong opening department that laid the platform for the victories.
Injury to Lendl Simmons at the start of this edition upset Mumbai Indians’ plans to have a solid opening partner for skipper Rohit Sharma. After Simmons pulled out due to back injury, Parthiv Patel partnered Rohit. And in the last match against Hyderabad, it was Simmons’ replacement Martin Guptill who took first strike with Patel with Rohit dropping himself down to No 4.
The only significant contribution at the top came while chasing in the second match against Kolkata with Rohit leading with a match-winning 84 not out.
But in the last match against Sunrisers he dropped down the order to strengthen the middleorder, which has also been struggling to deliver. A lot will depend on whether Kiwi opener Guptill can solve t he opening conundrum. He was dismissed for two in his first game against Hyderabad.
Mumbai will take comfort from the fact that they were lucky with replacements in the past.
Dwayne Smith made immediate impact after he came on board in 2012, scoring a nine-ball 24 against CSK to guide Mumbai to a two-wicket win. The following season he played a crucial role in Mumbai’s first title. In 2014, Simmons ended up as the team’s highest scorer and was one of the key contributors last year.
Stats show Mumbai have been successful when they have had a steady opening combination. In 2013, they started the campaign with Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar but the experiment lasted just five innings. With the former Australian skipper failing, Smith was promoted to partner Tendulkar. Smith played some key innings to help Mumbai win the title. Last year too Simmons and Parthiv gave steady starts for the rest of the batsmen to capitalise on. Of the team’s 15 innings, they opened together 13 times.