For the second time in an IPL season, Mumbai have lost their first five games. (P.C.:iplt20.com)
Mumbai Indians (MI) suffered their fifth loss of the season against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) as they fell short by just 12 runs despite cruising in the chase at one point. The five-time IPL champions were already playing a batter short, and some avoidable run-outs proved fatal to their chances.
Young Dewald Brevis played a blazing knock of 49 and both he and Tilak Varma brought MI back into the chase. However, they just couldn’t hold their nerves in the final stages and that cost them what could have been their first win of the season.
Fans on Twitter were disappointed to see such a drastic drop in the performance of the five-time IPL champions this season. Some also trolled Mumbai for not being able to win even a single game. Here are some of the reactions:
For your kind information, MI has Fabian Allen and Mayank Markande on bench. They can easily play at 7 and 8. Markande is anyway the best spinner in their squad.
Can’t understand why these two aren’t finding a place.
If MI keeps losing, we can enjoy Dewald Brevis batting more carefree. Do it for humanity, MI. 💙
Waiting for the next Zak spirit lifting speech in MI dressing room
MI plays with 4 front-line bowlers & their batting fails.
MI plays with 5 front-line bowlers & their bowling fails.
Messed up the auction – Now, messing up the playing XI. Wasting blokes like Fabian Allen & Tim David. How dearly did you miss that extra batter tonight?
there were days when Pandya would walk out after the 6th wkt, now MI got unadkat walking out after the 5th wkt
MI keeping the spirit of the IPL going. Points table nahi hila denge
MI losing 1st 5 matches of an IPL Season
2014
2022*
#MIvsPBKS
5 trophies = 5 Losses.
4 trophies = 4 Losses.
That’s legendary MI and CSK for you 🔥🔥
Seeing MI fans crying on my tl freshens up my mood, helps in boosting my mental health, helps in maintaining constant blood pressure in my body, helps in maximizing my physical performance, keeps my life happy and helps me to become a better person.
MI can slot in Allen at 7 they will have gun finisher and left-arm spinner what all things are they doing man 🤣🤣🤣
Only Archer won’t solve MI’s problems
Rohit Sharma taking revenge from MI fans for not giving him 5K Rts by losing 5 games in a row. Such an egoistic person. Not my captain
MI literally had the strongest playing XI going into the tournament, crazy they have taken LLLLLs only.
Riley Meredith was such a hot property last year’s mega auctions, is decent with bat too. Amidst all these talks of MI having a poor squad this year, I am just wondering why are they not playing him? Is he not available or something? Or not valuing him much because he came cheap?
MI are still good enough to make it. They need to play 4 overseas first.
Riley & Fabian walk in at 7 and 9.
CSK winning, MI losing. Back to back good days for CSK fans 🥰🥰🥰
In 14 years of IPL, MI Never Lost 6 Consecutive IPL matches
In Next match, Hopefully we will Create this Record too 🤞
Jayawardene & Co deserve this more!
#MIvPBKS
MI single handedly ruined their auctions due to their greed for Jofra Archer. Greed is never good.
Rohit should learn from Mayank and trust Sams like mayank trusted Odean despite his over against Tewatia.
His comeback is what MI needs to win a game. 😊
It was a great contest between CSK & MI in the opening stages of the IPL: to determine who was gonna get the first W on the board. Both had lost 4 in 4, but something had to give. Who was gonna blink first? Rohit blinks, Jaddu wins. #MIvsPBKS #IPL2022 #RRR https://t.co/hZvVrB172U
No disrespect to MI management but they got the playing XI wrong for the 2nd consecutive time. Cricket Twitter might blame different players for the loss of this match but you simply can’t play with 6 batters.
Run-outs of Varma, Pollard cost MI the game
Rohit Sharma showed promise once again by smashing some delightful strokes and took on the PBKS new-ball bowlers. However, he fell to the extra pace of Kagiso Rabada and couldn’t convert another start into a big score.
Ishan Kishan too departed soon and Mumbai looked to be falling behind in the chase. Brevis scored no runs off his first six balls and it looked like he was not ready for the big stage. However, the 18-year-old smashed Rahul Chahar for 29 runs in an over and brought his team storming back in the chase.
Tilak Varma also found boundaries at regular intervals and even after the departure of Brevis, Mumbai looked well in control. Suryakumar Yadav started from where he left off and things were going well for the Men in Blue and Gold.
However, both Varma and Pollard got run-out and that turned the game on its head. Yadav tried hard but perished and scoring 22 runs from the last over was too tall an ask for the Mumbai bowlers.
Rohit Sharma will need to find the right combination and try to include Tim David or Fabian Allen to get that much-needed depth in their batting.
