#360view: Mumbai Indians' veterans and momentum conjured IPL win

Joy Chakravarty 07:19 25/05/2015
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  • Champions: Mumbai Indians.

    One of the most prized possessions in sport is ‘momentum’. It is something that every team, and every player, hopes to have. It’s an invisible juggernaut you wish to ride on and crush your opponents with one after the other.

    Going into the final of the 2015 season of the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians may not have had as sparkling a record as Chennai Super Kings, but they had the momentum and they made the most of it.

    It was a ruthless display by Rohit Sharma and his men as they turned the final showdown into a one-sided affair. The journey from the bottom of the table to the crown has been a truly exhilarating one for Mumbai. It showed their class, but more importantly, it showed the enormous amount of self-belief in the team.

    When you have won eight of your last nine matches, you are expected to make it nine out of 10. But momentum works only if you are willing to work harder.

    And the application and aggression of Mumbai ensured that the match remained tilted in their favour barring the first over when a magical fielding effort from Faf du Plessis ran out Parthiv Patel.

    Sharma truly led the team by example. The easiest thing to do having lost the first wicket in the first over would have been to try and play out a couple of overs and get your eye in. But what the captain did in the second over of the match – in which he took 16 runs off Mohit Sharma – was really the turning point.

    That six and two boundaries were a clear message to Mahendra Singh Dhoni that Mumbai meant business.

    Obviously, most fans and experts are blaming Dhoni’s decision to field first after winning the toss as the main reason of the defeat.

    And while it may not look so good now that he has lost the match, it wasn’t really a bad call considering the state of the wicket.

    However, what Dhoni should have done was replace the woefully out-of-form Dwayne Smith. The captain showed immense faith in the opener throughout the tournament, and Smith never repaid the trust. Record book will show he top-scored with 57 in the final, but they came at a heavy price.

    Chasing 203, there is no way you make 31-1 after six overs, and that was all Smith’s fault. He just kept trying to play the big shots and missing, when he should have concentrated on rotating the strike with singles.

    Dhoni was also let down by his spinners on an Eden Gardens track that was expected to help the slower bowlers. But all he could get out of his three frontline spinners – Ravi Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Pawan Negi – were six overs that cost 65 runs.

    Apart from Sharma’s heroics, Mumbai were well served by their experienced stars. Just like veteran Harbhajan Singh was rewarded for his efforts with a place in the India team, Kieron Pollard deserves a similar treatment from his board.

    The burly Caribbean put in a matured all-round performance, taking his responsibilities extremely seriously. And then there was the ever-reliable Lasith Malinga.

    The contribution from established stars was something Chennai lacked this year. Players like Smith, Suresh Raina, Jadeja and even Dhoni himself were found wanting throughout the event.

    Chennai have benefited from having a stable team for some time now, but the chinks are clearly showing. It would be interesting to see how Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming react to this loss and what changes they ring in next season.

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