Mumbai: In the early years of the IPL, the league’s signature line, ‘Where talent meets opportunity,’ gained true recognition from the Mumbai Indians. Some of India’s best cricketers in the 2010s took their baby steps in the MI dressing room.
Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya’s names first spring to mind, who went on to be MI legends. MI’s discerning scouts tracked them down before they caught the national selectors’ eye. Even Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel among others had their first taste of professional cricket with MI before graduating to higher honours.
In the following decade, MI’s talent factory seems to have run dry. The last quality uncapped talent to have come out from the MI stable was Tilak Varma. But that was four years back. Even as their underperforming stars take the blame for another failed season, the consistent inability of their less-exposed talent to spring a surprise may have also contributed to MI’s six trophy-less campaigns.
There was a time when MI would project scores of uncapped gems as the next batch of India material. Franchises would anxiously wait for the latter half of player auctions, where the good work of MI scouts would be uncovered.
“There was an occasion when another franchise bid for a player they hadn’t even marked to fill their vacant slot, just because MI were involved in bidding,” a former MI talent scout said. “While Rajasthan Royals were known for value buying, MI’s bids were trusted because they would have come through a rigorous trial.”
Over time, the competition has caught up. Every franchise established its own scouting program. Supplemented by analytics, more teams approached auctions scientifically.
Many of MI’s talent scouts have also spread out or moved to other areas. Parthiv Patel, once a MI talent scout is now a member of Gujarat Titans’ coaching staff. The story goes that Parthiv, as the Gujarat Ranji captain, recommended Bumrah to MI scout John Wright. RP Singh, another former MI scout is now a national selector. Abey Kuruvilla too branched out to selection, and is now General Manager with the BCCI.
Whether the blame lies with MI’s current scouting crop is debatable. Sometimes players take time to evolve. Danish Malewar, the Vidarbha batter was a typically brave pick: coming with some quality first-class knocks, backed up with performances in Vidarbha Pro T20, one of the many state T20 leagues serving as a feeder line. When he got his chances this year, Malewar didn’t look the part.
There are other players to have showed early spark from batter Nehal Wadhera, pacer Akash Madhwal, left-arm quick Arshad Khan. None of them could string together enough good performances to warrant retention or push for the next level. That used to be the MI standard.
Besides, the T20 format metamorphosed into a hyper-aggressive batting shootout. None of the new batting finds are coming from MI. RR showed the dare to invest in Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, aged 13. Priyansh Arya was taken by Punjab Kings. When Abhishek Sharma blossomed, Sunrisers Hyderabad made him the face of their transformative design.
“Vaibhav may be a boy genius, but you still had to put him through the grind,” batting coach Zubin Bharucha spoke of the days before RR’s bid. “There is work that went into his bat swing. Shots he would slog for six, he could flick for the same result at a reduced risk.”
Full-proof trial sessions like Sooryavanshi’s with RR are now the order of the day. RR were also quick in signing up Yashasvi Jaiswal, one of India’s brightest all-format batting talents.
To counter batting aggression, defensive bowling skill-sets came in demand. SRH bowling coach Varun Aaron saw a future in Sakib Husain for that job. Sakib didn’t get a playing opportunity with Kolkata Knight Riders, but he shone for the men in Orange. So also, Vidarbha’s new ball pacer Praful Hinge. “I had seen these bowlers before and did present their names to the management, to Dan (Vettori) and the other coaches. But it’s to the team’s credit that we believed in these boys and picked them,” Aaron earlier said in a press conference.
Like MI, serial winners Chennai Super Kings have also felt the heat from other teams. They were quick to pivot strategy, midway, last season, and go after youngsters. Ayush Mhatre and Urvil Patel were picked last year. For this year, CSK broke the bank to secure services of uncapped Karthik Sharma and Prashant Veer in the auction.
That’s the other problem with MI; their spending on their main assets was so large – 62 % budget went into retentions – it left them with limited maneuvering room in the auctions. And the auctions have become more competitive. Even though Karthik and Veer were uncapped, they had enough backers, stoking a bidding war.
Unfortunately for those in blue and gold, all their big boys have been flat and the young ones have not been up to mark. Going by TV ratings and stadium attendance, MI still command appeal, but are badly in need of a reset.