Winning major tournaments hinges on teamwork rather than individual brilliance, according to former Australia captain Michael Clarke, who reckons the Mumbai Indians camp is divided into groups, hindering players from functioning cohesively. After the sudden pre-season change in captaincy when Rohit Sharma was unceremoniously replaced by Hardik Pandya, the five-time champions are in descension. They need to win all their remaining five matches to even have a shot at qualifying for the playoffs.
“Yeah, I don’t know (they will make it to the playoffs). I think it’s wishful thinking for Mumbai this entire IPL. I think there’s a lot more going on than what we are seeing on the outside and you can’t have that many good players and perform this inconsistently.
“So, I think there are different groups inside that changing room and something is not working, they are not gelling together, they are not playing as a team,” Clarke, who led Australia to victory at the 2015 World Cup, said on Star Sports Cricket Live.
Despite having proven match winners like Rohit, Suryakumar Yadav, Pandya, Tim David and Jasprit Bumrah, MI have found it difficult to find victories this season, slumping to six losses from nine outings.
Their three wins can be attributed to the individual brilliance of pacer Bumrah and the big-hitting Romario Shepherd.
“Individual brilliance can get them over the line, if Rohit Sharma comes in and gets another hundred or Hardik does something with the bat or Bumrah bowls like a genius again, you never know,” Clarke said.
“I think to win big tournaments you need to be a team and not just have individual performances and unfortunately they haven’t played well as a team so I hope they turn it around, but I can’t see them winning this game,” he added.
MI, who occupy the penultimate spot on the points table, take on Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday in Lucknow.
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