What’s going wrong for MI & CSK in IPL 2022?

Two of the most successful teams in the history of the Indian Premier League — Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings — are struggling to find form in the ongoing edition of the league. They both have lost four matches in a row now and are placed in the last two spots in the league table. And it is quite surprising for the fans to see them languishing at the bottom.

One of the major reasons for the poor run of both these sides is the inexperienced bowling attack, which has undone all the good work done by their batters. In particular, Mumbai is especially suffering because of the absence of an able partner for star pacer Jasprit Bumrah. Unlike the previous seasons, the MI bowling attack looks very thin in terms of firepower, and that has done nothing good for the team’s chances up till now.

Basil Thampi, Tymal Mills, Daniel Sams, Murugan Ashwin, and even 2017 Purple Cap winner Jaydev Unadkat have looked ordinary, and that’s certainly a big reason to worry for Rohit Sharma now. MI spent `8 crore on Jofra Archer in the mega auctions despite his unavailability for this season, and that has disturbed the balance for them.

On the other hand, Chennai’s worries are compounded by the inability of their batting unit to put runs on the board. They let go of Faf du Plessis and Shardul Thakur and failed to find an able replacement for the duo. Also, they missed the absence of big buy Deepak Chahar, who is undergoing rehabilitation for the hamstring injury he suffered in February. CSK roped in his services for `14 crore.

There is an old saying in cricket which says, “Batsmen win you games, bowlers win you tournaments” and certainly no one can understand this situation better than these two teams at the moment.

For Mumbai Indians, this is the fourth occasion that they have lost the opening four matches in the IPL, but like they have done it in the past as well, they can still bounce back and go all the way down the wire. The same is the case for CSK as well. The tournament is still wide open and they could find themselves back in the fray with some good performances in the upcoming matches.