May 1 turned out to be a day of firsts, at least for the Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore. But, it was a mixed bag. While Rohit Sharma’s men enjoyed one of their more memorable victories, it was a day to forget for Virat Kohli’s Bengaluru outfit.
The five-wicket win at the Wankhede Stadium meant that Mumbai became the first team to qualify for the Indian Premier League play-offs. Unfortunately, it also meant that RCB earned the unenviable distinction of becoming the first team to be ruled out from contention for a place in the Qualifiers.
It capped off two contrasting campaigns. While, Mumbai have been bullish with just two losses in 10 games, RCB have struggled with only two wins from 11.
Rohit has so far projected a picture of calm and solidity. His management of bowlers and field placings has been top notch. There have hardly been any hiccups, by contrast the RCB campaign has been a mess. Injuries and woeful form of the players ravaged their campaign. Kohli failed to rally the players and push them towards success.
In all, he led RCB to just one victory this season, with Shane Watson filling in for the first three games as Kohli recovered from his shoulder strain.
Incidentally, out of the eight captains in the IPL, only Kohli and Rohit are regular members of India’s national team. There was no better summation of the team’s fortunes that the performances of the two leaders.
Both entered the tournament on back of injury. Rohit, who suffered the more serious injury among the two, was fit in time for the league as opposed to Kohli, who missed RCB’s first three games as he recovered from a shoulder strain picked during India’s Test series against Australia.
It was Rohit, who had the poor start. A string of single digit scores meant, that he was always under the cosh. Kohli, by contrast hit the ground running with two half-centuries in his first three games.
As Rohit found his bearings, it was his teammates, who stepped up. The likes of Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Jos Butler, Parthiv Patel and Nitish Rana provided Mumbai the batting muscle required to win games in the IPL.
He soon found his form and has since scored to half-centuries, the latest of which came on Monday, when he led his side to victory over RCB with an unbeaten 56.
What was missing in Kohli’s campaign was the support from his teammates. While, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle showed glimpses of their prowess, there was never any consistency. As the losses piled up, the runs start drying up for Kohli. But, while Rohit’s teammates rallied around him, Kohli struggled to instill intent among his troops.
Stable core
Teams with a stable core have naturally done well this season. It is no surprise that the top-four slots in the table are currently occupied by stable teams, where chopping and changing has been minimal. Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians, have prospered with more or less by maintaining a core.
By contrast, teams in the bottom half of the table, including RCB, have kept on changing their team around. For RCB, it was injuries that prompted the need to switch things around initially. But, the ploy has hardly worked. RCB have not played the same XI once this season.
Seniors like Chris Gayle, Shane Watson and Samuel Badree have not found a regular place in the XI. By contrast, Mumbai have maintained its core through the season. In fact, over the years, they have kept their core intact. The likes of Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Harbhajan Singh have remained an integral part of the team.
With fitness and form issues, Malinga and Harbhajan have not been used regularly this season, but Mumbai still went ahead and used the same players through the season. Rana, Parthiv, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik and Krunal Pandya, have not missed any matches this season.
While, results might have forced RCB to make those many changes, it has clearly not worked for them. With losses piling around them, the team management could have persisted with a constant core for a few matches at least. But, with every negative result, the XI kept changing. The team never settled and results subsequently did not go their way.
Carrot or stick
That aggression is at heart of Kohli’s success is well documented. His fiery demeanour and in-your-face style of captaincy has helped create an enigmatic image of the Delhi lad. The brand of cricket has worked wonders, both for him as well as India, who has prospered under his captaincy.
While the formula worked wonders with India, it has not quite bourne fruit with RCB this time around. He has repeatedly come out after games and lamented on a lack of intent from the players.
The seniors have not been spared either and been pulled up for not stepping up. While, the frank statements make for good viewing, its not clear what effect they would have had on the side, that also includes domestic players, who otherwise do not play alongside or against Kohli.
If results are any indication, the carrots or stick approach has not quite hit home.
Rohit, on the other hand, has made the right all the right noises. His insistence on playing in the middle-order for the greater good of the team, is sure to have created a sense of reverence in the Mumbai Indians squad.
He remains one of India’s premier opening batsmen. He could just as easily have opened for Mumbai Indians. He had valid reasons too. With the Champions Trophy to follow immediately after the IPL, it would have augured well for the 29-year-old to assume his regular spot in the batting order. The fact that he missed nearly three months of cricket, would have enticed him to bat in his regular spot. Even the initial failures with the bat could have prodded the most seasoned of batsmen to indulge themselves and play in the preferred spot. Rohit, though, sacrificed to safeguard the composition of the team.
The message was clear, it was team before individual and it appears to have played well. Every individual in the side has stepped up. Nearly every major player has turned out at least one match-winning knock in this campaign.
He has the play-offs to worry about now. By the looks of it, Mumbai appear to be the team to beat and will back themselves to at least reach the final, despite the uncertainty that is Twenty20 cricket.
For Kohli, there no such worries. The Champions Trophy is next on the agenda (if the BCCI does in fact send a team). It will be interesting to see how he recovers from the setback. Will the humiliation create self doubt or just motivate him to strive harder for a a win?
As captain, Kohli has not faced such a humbling defeat. His 100 per cent series record as skipper of the Indian Test side is testament to this. It is an unprecedented turn of events for the 28-year-old, who has so far turned everything he has touched into gold. As they say, there is always a first time, for everything.