Mumbai Indians since the arrival of Suryakumar Yadav and Romario Shepherd into the playing XI in IPL 2024 have looked much stronger and the results reflected it too as they swatted aside the likes of Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. However, the leakage from the crack that existed and everyone was fearing of it getting exposed, did against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Sunday, April 14 at the Wankhede Stadium, especially when the visitors won the game by defending a total at Wankhede Stadium.
Yes, Matheesha Pathirana was excellent with his four-wicket haul but the likes of Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande also chipped in with tight overs at the death and the Mumbai Indians' batters failed to chase down 207 runs at the end with the required rate going upwards of 15. The bowling of Mumbai Indians was in the spotlight yet again even though their batting was expected to score all those runs having made a mockey of 197 a few days ago.
Former West Indies skipper Brian Lara tore into MI's bowling saying that apart from Bumrah no one is putting in the effort that the Men in Blue need. Gerald Coetzee did bowl decently for his spell of 1/35 but the likes of Akash Madhwal, Romario Shepherd and skipper Hardik Pandya all went for 12 runs plus per over.
"Their [MI] bowling is poor. Beyond Jasprit Bumrah, there is no one to actually support them in that bowling attack, and the CSK batters took them apart. The spinners, they only bowled 4 overs after around 7 runs an over, but they weren't trusted with Shivam Dube out there, so MI will have to improve in that area, and what it tells me more about this game is that, if you've got a good bowling unit, like CSK, you look at their bowling, every single bowler played a part in that game, every single bowler," Lara said on Star Sports.
"We had dot balls at the time, we thought that Mumbai Indians were supposed to accelerate, they didn't. So for me, Hardik Pandya had it tough, I think he turned himself in the last couple of over, the master did, you know, three sixes in the last 4-5 balls, but they've got to find a couple of bowlers, match-winning bowlers," the former Sunrisers Hyderabad coach added.
Mumbai Indians will go on the road for now starting with Punjab Kings in Mullanpur on Thursday, April 18 and since both teams are sailing in the same boat, the five-time champions will hope to get a few points in the north.
