A LOSING team is an incredibly hard place to be in for the captain. It is a place surrounded with anxiety, tensions, pressures and also self-doubts. This edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is watching such a team and a captain who have surprised the fraternity and fans alike. The all-conquering Mumbai Indians (MI) are on the brink of ouster from the tournament despite having the best of talent at disposal. Presiding over the horror is the much- maligned skipper Hardik Pandya whose ordeal with the home fans has just refused to get over. The fall of the mighty Mumbai, especially after the unnecessary change in leadership, is a signal to the owners as well as other teams too. It does not pay to disturb a cohesive unit without a valid necessity. There is a tinge of sadness to watch MI faring so poorly this season. The team has great potential and can be the champion of any T20 league but the way their poor show is on clearly indicates that the team is divided into units.

 

The unity and the spirit of Mumbai has gone missing and it is reflected in the confused tactics by Pandya who himself looks totally lost. Former cricketers Graeme Smith and Aaron Finch have come out with perfect observation for Pandya who, the duo feels, looks drained, flattened and under pressure. The vice-captain of the Twenty20 World Cup-bound team is clearly off-colour as a leader and also as a player. His confusion could be seen in the wholesale changes being effected in the team and tactics adopted for different oppositions. The end result is the horror run for MI as the multiple-time champions stare at an early ouster from the tournament. The Mumbai Indians have shown only a glimpse of what talent they carry in the dressing room. It has not imploded fully as the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah have shown with individual brilliance. But things have gone wrong at the thinking level as the bowling changes have resulted in leaking of runs in middle-overs.

 

The shortcomings have continued with the bat too as they have failed to fire in unison. Rohit Sharma, replaced as captain, has had a mixed tournament. Tilak Varma has not fired as per expectations. And Hardik has been totally off-colour with the bat too. All these factors can easily combine to be the recipe for disaster. MI are experiencing it from close quarters. The team is also suffering from the side-effects of a string of losses. It breeds contempt for the leadership and there is open talk about a divide in the dressing room now. The response Hardik is giving to losses and the overall behaviour of players on the field are proof enough that the team is not on the same page. This, despite the towering presence of Sachin Tendulkar as the mentor of MI. The team management need to take a relook at the campaign and if necessary rearrange the flock before the bug goes deep into the overall thinking of players.