IPL 2011 : Too many Options

Has the toomuchness of the depth in the batting order allowed the Mumbai Indians to curb their natural instinct, don a responsible cloak and leave things to too late in the innings?

Cricket teams have generally craved for more options to chose the team from, Though in IPL 2011 these options for Mumbai Indians are effecting them adversely. the How many times have we craved for more options in life? How many of our decisions are driven under compulsion? How often have we wished for an alternative? This IPL will tell you sometimes having the too many stereotyped options would hover your thoughts and paralyze you from decision-making, leaving you muddled in the midst of occurrences.

Three out of four teams have clarified their participation in the semifinals. The battle for the fourth spot is on with the Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab in with a direct chance and Pune smelling a tenuous – outside chance. The rest of the league games will be a test of temperament and character for them. With the semifinal pattern encouraging the top two teams to play in the final, the teams would want to end up there after the league games.

The Mumbai Indians suddenly find themselves at No.3 after being an invincible force at the top of the table, a week before. Ostensibly, the strongest team on paper was proved beatable by Rajasthan as they exposed their weaker link – handling pressure after giving rise to it. If anything, the game against King XI and Deccan Chargers only provided an abundance of confirmation.

If we look at the first three IPL editions, the team’s fortunes were inextricably twined with Sachin Tendulkar’s batting. The team’s dismal performance in the first two editions when Tendulkar had a wretched outing explains it all. With Tendulkar extending his dream run in the IPL edition III, the team’s fortunes changed sine then.

The team retained its core and made handsome picks in the auction, eventually, it was the first team to qualify for the semifinals winning 8 out of 10 games. But the losses in the last two games have showed up the uncertainty in the roles of players. Has the toomuchness of the depth in the batting order allowed them to curb their natural instinct, don a responsible cloak and leave things to too late in the innings? I also wonder if the thought ‘Rayudu-Sharma-Suman-Pollard-Symonds’ to follow has mortified Tendulkar into self-denial role at the top from playing his natural game and has led to the incongruous mishaps that they couldn’t evade in the last two games. For the batting order to which 180 must be a comfortable chase, 130 proved so defying. 3, 4 and 5 looks good for Rayudu, Sharma and Suman, but the team needs more from Symonds and Pollard with the bat.

Dhoni has now realized that he can hit the cricket ball farther than Morkel does.

The case with Pune is no different from that of Mumbai. The contest between Graeme Smith, Jessie Ryder, Manish Pandey and their latest inclusion Sourav Ganguly for the opening spot has left Yuvraj and Uthappa to play a role of a cameo later in the innings after the control has almost shifted focus. Unfortunately, I’m afraid it is too late for the team to change and make an impact in the tournament, however, they can produce a few upset games from here on and build their confidence.

In Warne, Dhoni and Gilchrist, the IPL has seen the best managers. Yet, there have been a few wrong calls. One such palpable error by Warne was to demote Taylor below Menaria. A temptation to make Taylor a Pollard is evident. Like Taylor has proved in the previous editions, he is capable of playing long unlike Pollard.

Thankfully, Dhoni has now realized that he can hit the cricket ball better than Morkel. Morkel’s lean patch has allowed Dhoni to play like Dhoni. Every time he has promoted himself in the batting order the results have been jaw dropping.

This makes me believe that with lesser options and in no-other-choice kind of situations, the players are challenged with lesser thoughts and have played better cricket without curbing their natural instincts.

I’m neither defying nor critiquing their tactics, but they are now in a position to reassess themselves. A SWOT analysis could just be what the teams want at this stage. Having clearly defined roles for every player will do the players a world of good.