With Mumbai Indians losing their fifth straight opening encounter of new season, game against Kolkata Knight Riders tonight is key to build momentum and confidence
Among all the complexities, uncertainties, drama, suspense and nerve-wracking twists and turns that are associated with the Indian Premier League (IPL), there seems to be one piece of surety that has crept in over the last few years: Mumbai Indians (MI) starting a fresh season on a false note.
In each of the previous four seasons since 2013, the Mumbai franchise has lost its opening encounter, and it seems to be struggling to get rid of that habit.
This time as well, Rohit Sharma and his boys haven't got the smell of victory to being with, going down to Rising Pune Supergiant by seven wickets in their opening IPL-10 game on Thursday
While one may argue that MI were champions in two of those four seasons — 2013 and 2015 — it's still an unwelcome trend. Especially in this season, for it points to a couple of early worrying signs going into their second game against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede here on Sunday.
Firstly, for a league that has momentum and confidence as the keywords, MI has neither while gearing up to face a team that has both. KKR are coming to town marching with a crushing 10-wicket win over Gujarat Lions on Friday behind them.
Secondly, and more importantly, it reflects a bit of a muddled state of mind in terms of what the team management thinks is the right team combination that can win them matches. That's where MI seem to be battling at the moment, and it's a puzzle they'll have to crack if they are to get past the mighty Knights on Sunday night.
The puzzle starts with the captain himself. Rohit, a man for whom opening in shorter formats comes as naturally as winning titles has come to Roger Federer this year, was dropped down the order to No. 3 in the first match of this season. The new combination of Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler did a decent job of adding 45 against RPS, but it has come at the cost of tinkering with the entire batting line-up as well as the self-belief of your leader.
The second was to bench senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who has been a vital and constant cog in the ever-changing MI wheel.
Head coach Mahela Jayawardene will need to have a re-look at both these aspects if they are to challenge the Knights as well as erase the memories of yet another bad start to a season.
"Yes, it has been highlighted that we've had situations where we have not had good starts. It's something that I definitely wanted to change and that was my mindset going into the first game as well, with a very positive and attacking mindset," Jayawardene said here on Saturday.
The game against KKR might just be the second in a long schedule of 14 games, but the importance of a victory on Sunday isn't lost on the MI coach.
"It's important that we start well, especially given the fact that we've got eight games in around 18 days. So, it's good to take the momentum forward," he said.
About time MI started doing that.
MI's first game of new season in 5 years
2013: Lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 2 runs in Bengaluru
2014: Lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by 41 runs in Abu Dhabi
2015: Lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by 3 wickets in Kolkata
2016: Lost to Rising Pune Supergiants by 9 wickets in Mumbai
2017: Lost to Rising Pune Supergiant by 7 wickets in Pune
DID YOU KNOW?
While Mumbai Indians have lost all their opening matches in the last five seasons including this one, Kolkata Knight Riders have come out triumphant in all their first outings over the last five years
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