New Delhi, May 9: It was not totally unexpected, but definitely unfortunate. The reason being, Mumbai Indians have one of the best bunch of experienced and young players. But their inconsistent performance this season have led them to bow out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 play-offs race.
On Wednesday night, struggling Mumbai Indians were knocked out of the IPL 2024 play-offs, after Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) post a massive win against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Hyderabad.
The major issue that bothered the Mumbai franchise this season, was the leadership change. Hardik Pandya replacing seasoned and five-time IPL title winning skipper Rohit Sharma, as the new leader did not go well with MI supporters.
The new captain Hardik was booed in Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The team's morale was reportedly not at its best as Rohit, the Team India skipper. was unceremoniously removed from the MI leadership.
Hardik's leadership style appeared bi strange at times. According to reports, some of the senior members of the team have expressed their concern regarding Hardik's style of captaincy, which has seen the team's morale falter through the course of the IPL season.
Senior players in the likes of Rohit, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav held a meeting following a loss in which the players expressed what they believe is the underlying problem and individual meetings were also held to determine the problem, an Indian Express report stated.
Mumbai Indians have been under the leadership of Rohit Sharma for the past decade and with a new captain coming into a set hierarchy is bound to ruffle feathers around the dressing room.
A Mumbai Indian official attributed the team's struggles this season to the transitional phase that they are in. "These are regular teething problems for a team that sees leadership change. This happens in sports all the time," the official was quoted as saying in the report.
Following MI's loss against the Delhi Capitals, Pandya spoke about how he believed Tilak Varma could have targeted Axar Patel more and blamed the loss on game awareness. This particular incident did not sit well with the team considering Varma played a great innings scoring 63 off 32 deliveries on the night and is also the top scorer for the team this season.
Mumbai India currently sits in ninth place in the points table having played a game more than the Gujarat Titans. With all hopes of qualification to the playoffs now behind the franchise, it is of utmost importance for the management to iron out all possible wrinkles before the next season to maximise their chances of winning their sixth IPL trophy next season.
Mumbai Indians still have a couple of games to play in IPL 2024. If they can win them, that may provide some consolation to the unhappy fans.
They can now hope to do well next season. The mega IPL auction is scheduled in 2025. They may have a new team combination. But MI fans and Rohit's supporters would be keen to observe if he continues with MI anymore.
Overall, despite immense potentials, Mumbai Indians could not perform as per expectations in IPL 2024. Blame games may continue. But they can only hope to do well next season with new vigour, better plans and efforts. (With IANS support)
