Former leg-spinner of the Indian cricket team, Piyush Chawla, who was also a member of the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the recent season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, has opened up on the situation of the five-time champions, where things didn’t go in their favor.
A few months before the start of the season, the management changed the leader, as they handed over the captaincy responsibility to Hardik Pandya, who went back to his old franchise from the Gujarat Titans. The fans didn’t welcome the move positively, as the all-rounder faced criticism throughout the tournament.
Mumbai Indians finished the 17th season of the event with the wooden spoon, as they could win only four of the 14 encounters at a net run rate (NRR) of -0.318. Piyush Chawla, who saw the whole development from such a close distance, revealed the whole story.
Rohit Sharma or Hardik Pandya? Piyush Chawla addressed this issue for Mumbai’s poor 2024 season
Mumbai Indians didn’t make a great start in the season, as they lost the very first game against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium by six runs, from a position where they needed around 40 runs in the last five overs with a decent amount of wickets in hand. On many occasions, they couldn’t hold the nerve for a long time.
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Chawla felt that the momentum wasn’t in their court for the whole season, and once they lost their first three games, two of them from a comfortable situation, they were behind the rate, something which Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) used in a great way.
“Well, I won’t say anything went wrong. T20 is all about momentum, and we didn’t get the momentum in that season. But, it’s not necessary that something wrong happened in such a way, but it happens that the team loses the momentum in a few scenarios.” Piyush Chawla expressed in a video during the podcast on ‘2 sloggers’. “So, once you lose it, you don’t easily get it back. You see how smooth KKR was in the season.”
The veteran bowler also reckoned that the batter would always want to smash the bowlers, while the latter would aim to take wickets regularly. Apart from these, everything would happen out of the equation.
“We didn’t get momentum. We lost the first game, where we needed around 40 runs in the last 30 balls, and everyone thought the game was on another court.” Piyush Chawla commented during the podcast. “And it wasn’t someone’s fault. When the batter goes in, he always thinks about winning the game. When the bowler starts bowling, he doesn’t think of being smashed for sixes. It happens out of the equation.”
He also believed that the Mumbai Indians squad was the best on paper among all the teams, but they didn’t get the result in their hands.
“So, we didn’t collect the momentum, and the moment we didn’t get the momentum, things started to change from here and there. So, if you look on paper, we had the best team. Everyone will question our 10th position after looking at the team.” The Uttar Pradesh-born told.
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The 35-year-old shaded light on how they were a couple of feet away from winning a few certain games, but the luck didn’t help them in crunch moments.
“Momentum plays a huge role in the shortest format of the game. There were a few games which we should have won, but we couldn’t. This wasn’t because of someone’s fault.” Piyush Chawla concluded. “It’s just because the luck was two or three feet away. The ball which should have been a six, was going into the hands of the fielder and vice-versa. But, that’s a part and parcel of the game.”
It will be interesting to see the names of the retained players for the five-time champions before IPL 2025.
