Just a casual speedbump for Mumbai Indians?

Mumbai Indians, the most successful franchise in the Indian Premier League, finished at the bottom of the table in the Tata IPL 2022. The Former Champions, who have won the title in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 & 2020 since the inception of the League in 2008, had a forgettable run in this season. 

So, what were the reasons for this drastic fall with the same management and leadership group at the helm of the franchise? Let's try to break this down. First things first, the Mega Auction held at the start of the year played a crucial role in the demise.

All the existing teams were allowed to retain up to 4 players from their previous squads. Mumbai Indians managed to retain their core group. Mumbai Indians retained Rohit Sharma as captain, followed by Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Keiron Pollard. 

But the franchise could not build a formidable team around this core team, at least for the first edition of the IPL post the Mega Auctions. When the auction ended, one could primarily identify that the Mumbai Indians squad lacked quality depth. 

Mumbai Indians failed to buy the players they wanted, someone like Trent Boult and Quinton de Kock, leading to a sub-par squad for this edition. However, Mumbai Indians are known for making comebacks. Right when you think that Mumbai Indians are down and dead, the franchise surprised one and all to rise back, time and again.

Blame the luck this time around, but the franchise was ridiculed with injuries. Surya Kumar Yadav, fondly known as SKY, returned to the squad after missing out on the initial matches. 

During the season, key players such as Tymal Mills, Jasprit Bumrah's partner in the bowling attack, were injured and ruled out. Surya Kumar Yadav also picked up another injury that ruled him out for the season's remaining games.

What cannot be blamed this time around is the form of the players. Mumbai Indians were used to explosive starts in the powerplay. Quinton De Kock partnered with Rohit Sharma to open the batting in the previous seasons, followed by SKY, Ishan Kishan, Pollard, Hardik Pandya & Krunal Pandya. 

Although in this edition, Ishan Kishan failed to make any justice to his out-of-the-world price tag. Even Kieron Pollard, the muscular beast who has been the go-to crisis man for Mumbai Indians, barely connected his bat to the ball.

However, one can deny it, but the mega auction hurt Mumbai Indians more than any other team. Since 2013 when they first won the IPL trophy, they had built a destructive side with some top-quality players like De Kock, Pandya Brothers, Malinga, Boult, and co. 

But due to the retention rules, Mumbai Indians missed out on most of their players, which could have been the most significant factor in their series of defeats this season. Onto re-building, hopefully.

Let's move on to the bowling department. To put it directly, Mumbai Indians missed out on their chances, with some bad luck involved. Ace Pacer Malinga retired, they had to let go of Trent Boult, and glitches in the auction while buying Khaleel Ahmed and a few others resulted in a compromised bowling department for MI. 

Bumrah never found a co-bowler who can lift pressure off his shoulder during the 14 group stage matches. Tymal Mills, the athletic left-arm pacer from England, started well but was too expensive. 

Basil Thampi was mediocre at best, Daniel Sams had more off days than good days, and Riley Meredith's overall performance can be compared to a shadow. Mumbai Indians truly missed the trick in the spin department as well. 

They had to settle for Murugan Ashwin and Mayank Markande in the auctions to replace Rahul Chahar and Krunal Pandya. But there is a bright shining light to look forward to. Mumbai Indians managed to seal the deal with Jofra Archer, who will be lethal in the next edition if he remains fit. Archer was bought in the auction even though he was injured.

Does experimentation hurt? Maybe. Mumbai Indians experimented a lot with their squad this season. Perhaps they had to bench Tim David and Dewald Brevis after initial failures to sign Kumar Kartikeya and handing him the cap. The debuts of Hrithik Shokeen and Ramandeep Singh are a few instances when Mumbai Indians were desperate with their rotations.

Moneyball or ground realities? The two schools of thought have always locked horns in cricket. Do we trust players' statistics, or do we look at ground realities? 

Mumbai Indians bought a few overseas stars such as Tim David, Daniel Sams, and Tymal Mills, looking at their numbers in the other t20 leagues around the globe. But these three players have spent some time in the IPL before with other franchises and, to put it brutally, have been rejects.

Tim David played for RCB in 2021, Daniel Sams has worn the DC and RCB jerseys in 2020 & 2021, and Tymal Mills also represented RCB in 2017. Despite their abysmal records in the IPL.

Mumbai Indians made them a part of their IPL 2022 squad. And we are not sure about how they will analyze those moves. Tim David performed well in the last four matches for Mumbai Indians, and Daniel Sams frankly had a mixed season, and Tymal Mills never balanced his number of wickets & his economy rate.

Mumbai Indians' core domain has been their efficient scouting. And they did not disappoint this season as well. We were introduced to Tilak Verma (The highest run-scorer for MI), Dewald Brevis (fondly known as Baby AB), Hrithik Shokeen, Ramandeep Singh, Kumar Kartikeya, etc. One can already claim that these are the future stars for Mumbai Indians without a doubt. 

So what can we expect from Mumbai Indians going ahead, with no big auctions coming up? We can expect them to surprise us. With no significant changes to the squad, Mumbai Indians have the calibre to bounce back stronger next season.