Mumbai Indians, the most pricey franchisee of the Indian Premier League..
It had everything with it.. the brand name, the sponsers, the rich rich owner, the all time best batsmen, all time good bowlers, good coach, the best fielding coach...
Then what exactly went wrong.. after having everything good in the recipie, what was it that made the food taste bad...
Instead of yelling and shouting "..aala re aala..", we had to shout "..gela re gela..". Why did this happen..?
First of all i feel, the very popular dialogue from THE SPIDERMAN,
"... Big Power brings you big responsibility..."
I think this held true with the Mumbai Indians [hereafter i would be using MI for Mumbai Indians]. The team had so much at stake, name, fame, money, reputation... Before taking up any task, any match somewhere in the minds everyone had some pressure over him.
Secondly, the MI team went for best in all areas but failed to play together as a team. The players were the best as indivisuals but as a team, they failed to perform.
Sachin's captaincy wasn't the best. As compared to Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, MS Dhoni, Sachin's captaincy stood nowhere near.
MI lacked a big hitter of the ball. A player who could hit the ball no matter where the ball was delivered..
Of course, MI had Jayasurya,but to the hard luck of the franchisee, not in the best of the forms.
Sachin on the other hand, played well throughout the season but not as good as required by the situation.
JP Duminy was a find for the team but he proved to be more of a slogger than a hitter.
Dwayne Brawo, man , what a player he is.. a true West Indian spirit.. He proved a boon to the team. The only man i believe who kept his form throughout the tournament.
Lasith Malinga was fantastic, his yorkers made me feel.. God please don't make me play him ever in my life.. What perfect yorkers...!!! Salute...
Apna Bhajji dint fire up good, Zaheer was good till he got injured.. (I just pray he would be able to play for the World Cup)
The Indian finds in Abhishek Nayar, Shikhar Dhawan, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pinal Shah, Yogesh Takawale, Rohan Raje and others were good but not good enough to stand to the level of the tournament.
A several imports were also made to sit on the bench throughout the tournament.
A team which on paper would have made several to sweat didn't fire up when required.
Many things failed and I am sure the team must be busy today collecting the bits and pieces of the failed effort..
But being a Mumbaikar, my heart beats for Mumbai and MI.. and i am quite sure, although not last year, though not this year, agle saal toh ipl mumbai hi jeetega...
".....Aaaaala re aaala MUMBAI INDIAN aaalaaa...."
I would love to shout this next year too.. and i hope we win the trophy next year...
