Its with lot of sadness I am having to change my RT (Mumbai Indians theme song). Despite showing some sparks early on in the tournament, Mumbai Indians failed to get their act together. Given their celebrity quotient - Tendulkar, Jayasuriya, J P Duminy, Abhishek Nayyar, Harbhajan, Zaheer Khan... much more was expected from them :(
Its actually surprising that Mumbai, with its vast cricket following and professional approach to cricket coaching, has failed to match other top teams in both the seasons of IPL. Mumbai is one of the best domestic teams in India and getting in Mumbai's team is considered to be the toughest thing on domestic circuit. Mumbai is host to some of the biggest domestic tournaments. Check out on any weekend, and all its grounds are bustling with cricket being played by young men dressed in whites.
Its interesting to compare Mumbai to Delhi in this regard. Delhi Daredevils has been one of the best team in both IPL editions so far. Its unfortunate that they lost in semis both the times. While Delhi has its own place on the domestic circuit it cannot match the stature of Mumbai. Cricket infrastructure in Delhi is nowhere near that of Mumbai. And like all other things, cricket is played much more professionally in Mumbai than in Delhi. Still Delhi is miles ahead of Mumbai when it comes to perofrmance in IPL.
Unsurprisingly Sachin seems to be supportive of idea of allowing more foreigners in the playing XI, while Viru has dismissed it straight-away. And I find it tough to agree with Sachin on this point. Long term interest of IPL as well as cricket in India lies in providing platform to Indian players. If teams are not performing well because the local players are not delivering, the solution lies in finding better local players, or working hard on exisiting players. Packing the
team wih more overseas players is the easiest option but not the best one.
Mumbai Indians need a serious revamp of its approach towards the local players. May be they need a new captain and a coach. They need to start scouting and developing new talent, NOW. Unlike other iconic players, Sachin still has a great role to play in shaping of Mumbai Indians, though probably not as a captain. Time to interospect, and start rebuilding. Mumbai has all the resources that a team may need, somebody needs to get the planning right.
I am waiting for a new theme song from Mumbai Indians, and the new champions...
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