While MI losing their opening match in IPL is not something new, they made 2 major blunders in selecting their playing XI which jeopardized their chances against the formidable CSK and eventually led to their loss. The stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav also made some mistakes in the death overs which cost them the match.
Firstly, playing Robin Minz and Satyanarayana Raju were highly reprehensible choices, since Krishnan Shrijith was a better option in Robin’s place, as he has higher T20 average(32.8, which is decent) and has played some matches in 1st class, List A and T20, whereas Minz hasn’t played in any cricket match other than MI vs CSK yesterday. This proved to be costly as Minz was dismissed for a repugnant 3 off 9.
Playing such a player who has zero experience over a player who had some good stats to back him up is unfathomable decision making. Furthermore, playing Satyanarayana Raju over Mujeeb Ur Rahman is outright absurd and ridiculous. There was one foreign player slot empty(FYI Robin Minz is Indian) and choosing to play an uncapped Indian spinner over the world’s current best finger spinner, especially on the most spin friendly track in India is nonsensical decision making from captain Suryakumar Yadav and the team’s management. Satyanarayana Raju was slammed for 13 runs in his only over, rightfully damaging MI for their unfathomably ludicrous decision to play him over Mujeeb.
The decision to play Vignesh Puthur as an impact sub however proved to be a good one as it gave MI a fighting chance. However, it must be considered that it was just a good day for the spinner that he managed to get the best figures a bowler has done on his IPL debut. There is no guarantee that Mujeeb wouldn’t have done better with more wickets and lesser economy. However, the main blunder lies in not selecting him in the XI in the first place, as Mujeeb with Vignesh Puthur might actually have gotten MI over the line.
Captain SKY also made a mistake in the death overs, without which there was still a small chance of victory. Although the tracks in MA Chidambaram stadium are spin friendly, the spinners were being slammed in the final 4 overs by Rachin Ravindra. Despite that, SKY chose to use spinners, leaving the overs of the two main bowlers in MI’s bowling attack – Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar unfinished. Not giving Deepak Chahar another chance after he bowled excellently in the first half of his spell is absolutely disgraceful from Suryakumar Yadav. A good captain must improvise and act according to the game’s current situation, to turn things around. Just doing homework on pitch report and sticking to that without applying one’s own thinking is parochial and slipshod leadership from SKY. Had the 17th over been bowled by Deepak Chahar instead of Vignesh Puthur, things could have turned out differently. He had bowled a good spell but so had Chahar and choosing an uncapped bowler over the one of the two main bowlers in the attack on the basis of some good performance is too simplistic and shows lack of trust in key players, which MI’s most successful captain Rohit Sharma never displayed.
Hardik Pandya followed by Suryakumar Yadav, MI has had two incompetent captains, though Pandya has been doing well recently and thus has scope to do good this season as his one match ban has been lifted after the match yesterday ended. The team should not hesitate to seek advice and help from the experienced Rohit Sharma who has made brilliant on-the-field decisions over the years, just like how coaches from the teams’ dugouts often technically fully take over the team’s leadership in strategic breaks(timeouts and drinks breaks).
MI need to rectify these two errors in their playing XI, show more trust in their mainstream bowlers and continue backing their newfound talent Vignesh Puthur to lift the team’s strength and morale, and get back to winning ways, like they have over the past decade after losing their opening match, winning 5 trophies in doing so.
