Analysis: The future of two IPL giants Chennai and Mumbai looking bleak, need fresh firepower
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00:00This was supposed to be an El Clasico, but I'm afraid both the teams played like they're the bottom teams and the scorecards showed it.
00:17Hello and good evening. Welcome to yet another episode of Straight Bat with Mr. Cricket UAE and Gulf News.
00:26We are here, we have assembled after the Mumbai vs Chennai game in IPL this evening. With me,
00:33I've got the man himself, Mr. Anish Sajan. I've got AK Satish, the sports editor of Gulf News
00:40and our two loyal fans, Naresh Bhai from Mumbai Indians and Arjun Singh from Chennai Super Kings.
00:48Well, the match, it was quite a bit of, you know, a struggle to see that, you know,
00:54these two heavyweights finishing and with finally, of course, Mumbai managing a win
01:02by five wickets. I'll ask Anish Bhai to sum up, give his thoughts on the game.
01:07Thank you, Gautam. Hello, Satish. Hi, Naresh. Hi, Arjun. Well, this was supposed to be an El
01:13Clasico, but I'm afraid both the teams played like they're the bottom teams and the scorecards
01:20showed it. First, it was Chennai. In fact, if I have to be summiting up Chennai's innings,
01:25they did not get out to such good balls as the Mumbai players were. Chennai threw the wickets
01:30away and Dhoni showed us on this wicket how to bat and had they had 20-30 runs, things would
01:35have been different. But I have to give credit to the two Mumbai boys, the two youngsters,
01:39Tilak as well as Shaukeen. They put their head down and they showed that big temperament,
01:44that how to play on such wickets and made sure that they win this match. Otherwise,
01:4834-4 could have become 35-6 and who knows what would have happened.
01:51Correct. Right. Yeah. Satish, I'll come to you. Chennai had gone into the match. I mean,
01:59of course, there are lots to talk about. But Chennai had gone into the match with this,
02:05you know, some kind of rumours during the rounds about Jadeja, whether he had been such a
02:12vital member of the team, if he is going to be part of the squad next year. Now, this is a very
02:19non-Chennai-like situation that we are watching this time. Do you think it could have cast
02:24any kind of influence on the way team, once the team walked out into the middle?
02:30I don't think that would have had an impact, though it is not new. Because if you look at
02:33two years back, even Raina had something, a very similar episode, where he had to
02:38leave the hotel room and that year, of course, they did very badly.
02:42Yes, the performance was also bad. Yeah.
02:44Correct. Correct. But I don't think that would have had any effect because the team that played
02:49last game and this game are the same. Jadeja didn't play the last game as well. But they thrashed
02:56Delhi. I think it was Kolkata. No, it was Delhi. They thrashed Delhi last game convincingly.
03:03So, if that is the case, I don't think that would have had any impact other than,
03:08okay, maybe instead of saying that, he is not there, he is not there for the entire season,
03:13that's the only thing maybe. But what I felt is, yes, couple of good balls they bowled and then
03:19got the wickets. Maybe Conway was too… It was tough for him. It was a bad luck. It was a bad
03:26decision. But other than that, maybe Rituraj played a wrong shot, yes. But some of them like
03:35Dubey or Ambati Raidu or even for that matter, I would say, Utapa, they should have put their
03:43heads down and played a better knock on a wicket when there is seeming. And today, one strange
03:50fact I found is, when the ball is seeming, none of these guys could play. And I don't know if
03:56there is a T20 held in England, maybe there will be scores of 75-80 every game.
04:03True.
04:05This had been really the unique factor about this IPL. On that note, I will come to Naresh.
04:14Batsmen of all hues, they seem to be facing this problem when they are facing the left-arm
04:20seamer. It's not only Rohit Sharma, I mean, that's what eventually it's Daniel Sums,
04:25if it's Daniel from Mumbai, it's our Mukesh Chaudhary from Chennai, who seem to be doing
04:31the damage. So, I mean, is it the angle which is always creating the problem or what is it? I mean,
04:39what left-arm seamers have always been in business and they have been trying to get the ball in.
04:45Yeah. And if you see this, this IPL has been about left-arm seamers. It's not only about Sam's.
04:51Sam, especially in the second half, you know, the first half, he wasn't effective at all.
04:56Rather, the break has benefited him. He has done very well economically also,
04:59and he's been getting wickets. And Mukesh Chaudhary has been very good. Mohsin Khan is
05:05there. Yash Dayal is there. So, it's been the season of left-armers. Khalil Ahmed,
05:11whatever little opportunity. Natarajan, he's unfortunately injured now. And
05:18Sakaria got a couple of games. So, it's a good thing to see how left-armers are bowling in
05:23these conditions. And that is what it is about playing in Mumbai. It is really supporting the
05:30seam bowlers. And I think this season, Chennai of whatever has happened has missed Deepak Chahar
05:36in Mumbai. But yeah, the left-armers are troubling the batters. Rather seam bowlers,
05:43bowlers have troubled the batters. And as you said, yeah, Rohit Sharma has always been weak
05:49to the left-armers. And we saw that happen today, whatever little bit he could score. But yeah,
05:55it's concerning the way Indian batters have been playing seam bowling.
06:01True. I'll come to Arjun. Arjun, how are you feeling? I mean, see, you're just two matches
06:09away. So, you're finally glad that you're getting over it. And next year, you want to see a new
06:14Chennai, right? I mean, hopefully, the way we played today was horrendous. I expected a lot
06:23more from CSK. As in the first innings, six people in the CSK batting lineup got out before
06:33even getting five runs. That's a big number. You'd expect more people to get runs, right?
06:42And we got out on 97. Oh, yeah. Dhoni got 36 runs. Oh, yeah. Tikshana got wickets. No,
06:50we got out on 97 runs. And that's what cost us the match. We need to improve our batting lineup.
06:56It's horrible. I think if we could have gotten maybe 130, 140, we could have easily won this
07:04match. Our bowlers were bowling extravagantly. I think at one point of time, in the second
07:10innings, I thought maybe we could win this. Yeah, it almost become a 50-50 situation,
07:18isn't it? I mean, Mumbai was something like, you know, 33-34, yeah.
07:24Could have become five when the DRS came. Yes. Anisbhai, talking about DRS, I'll just come to
07:32you. I learned this weird thing that Conway couldn't appeal for the DRS because there was
07:38an electrical failure. Correct. It was still not up and running. I mean, what's your take on that,
07:45Anisbhai? These things can happen, of course, I mean, ultimately. But it doesn't reflect well,
07:51isn't it? I'm afraid it doesn't reflect well. But before DRS, we had only umpires doing the job.
07:58And this gentleman by the name of Cheera Ravi Kanth Reddy, I don't think he should be allowed
08:04to do even one match in the IPL next time. He did one horrible mistake, which cost Chennai
08:09the start. And you know, Devon Conway was their main man. Who knows whether he would have gone
08:13out to the next ball. Nothing. He was the one who set the platform. As we say, an opener set
08:18the platform. This umpire set the platform. And he gave a horrible decision to the Mumbai batsman
08:23also, who was out of the pad that Hrithik. And had they didn't have the same facility,
08:29he would have been back in the pavilion. And Mumbai would have probably lost that match.
08:33So this gentleman, I believe, if I can write a scrap, should not be allowed to do an umpiring
08:38because he has no clue of umpire.
08:40Right. And I think the sad part is, Gautam, if there was a failure in DRS,
08:46and if one team didn't have it for two overs where… Even Utapa wanted to rip for it. Because
08:53he felt the ball was going outside the off-stump. Maybe it would have hit the stumps. But when you
08:58deny one team of a particular facility, why give it to others? They should have completely
09:03scrapped the DRS for the entire match. And they would have had more decisions.
09:08I think then it would have been havoc. It can't be one team, isn't it?
09:14Yeah. See, it was a blip. It was a blip because, you know, that one, I mean, either you wait,
09:22either you go for a delayed start or something. Two overs, five minutes, ten minutes.
09:29In any case, they delayed the match. They take four hours to finish a match.
09:32They could have delayed the start.
09:34Right. Yeah. So, you know, Dhanushbhai, I'll come back to you. I mean, we have always,
09:42often spoken about it. Dhanushbhai has written about it. We have also observed that
09:47Mumbai, I mean, they started, you know, getting it wrong in the auction itself,
09:53and then continually paid the price. I mean, today, it was a little painful to see Karan
09:59Pollard sitting out and this new, you know, overseas player playing in place of that.
10:06Do you think this is what, you know, this is doing the rounds that have we seen the end of
10:10Karan Pollard, a wonderful 10, 11 years or maybe more with Mumbai coming to an end? What do you
10:17feel, Dhanushbhai? Actually, he's had a very, very bad year and or the season. And actually,
10:25I've been saying that he should have taken a break for a few games. It's unfortunate that
10:29he took a break on his birthday. Probably he would have opted to not play today, for sure.
10:35But I think he'll take a decision on his own. I don't think Mumbai will release him. He will
10:40take a decision whether he wants to continue or not, because he's just given up international
10:45cricket. So maybe he probably goes back and evaluates what he wants to do as far as franchise
10:54cricket, because there's a CPL coming up soon in August-September. But it's good that he took
11:01a break, but it wasn't the right day on his birthday, or probably he didn't want any more
11:05failures and just wanted to enjoy the day of whatever the outcome was. But yeah, very poor
11:10season for him. He's served Mumbai Indians very well for so many years since 2010, when he was
11:18taken into the team that first year we reached the finals. So retaining him, you can call it
11:23an emotional decision. But yeah, you need to take care of the loyalties and the contribution
11:29the players make. Yeah, actually, that's what goes in the making of a team. I'll come to Satish
11:36to ask that. There is a fair bit of criticism about buying back both Robin Uthappa
11:44and Ambati Raidu. Uthappa has clicked off and on, but Raidu had been a failure,
11:54I would like to say. Would you like to see anybody? Because there is always a clause of releasing
11:59players if you want. And then you can do a trade-off. There are other players who had gone
12:03unsold. And from there, you can always take in somebody. Because there will always be the smaller
12:08auction as well. So on their way to rebuilding, Satish, do you like to see replacements for
12:18Uthappa and Raidu in the middle order? There will be. But again, just to clarify,
12:24I don't think we'll be harsh on Raidu if we say that he's underperforming. Because he played a
12:28couple of good knocks on and off. And the last two, three games, the openers were so good that
12:33they didn't get chances. So that four, five matches which he played, he got about two,
12:37three good knocks, which is okay. I think one of the knocks, he ended up in the losing knock.
12:43But yes, obviously, I think Chennai is doing well in that sense. Because
12:47the bowling department is now looking very young and energetic. The guys like
12:54Shivam Dubey has to come up and then produce consistent results, which I'm sure they will.
13:00Because he showed one or two games, he showed that he can… But he doesn't have temperament, Satish.
13:05As much as you talk about Shivam Dubey, he doesn't want to move his feet.
13:08He's like a camel sitting on his haunches.
13:11That's true. But…
13:15If you want to get a ball in the slot, you're not going to get every time.
13:18Every bowl and roll, you give him the slot, he kicks the ball out of the line.
13:21That's where the temperament comes in. So initially, you move your feet and start playing
13:25your game. Then you start hitting. That's where the experience comes in. So I'm saying, he's not
13:30a bad choice. I'm just saying, he's a choice there. But I think, in Deepak Chahar and you have
13:37this another under-19, I think, is Ram…
13:41Yes. Hangvekar.
13:43Hangvekar.
13:43Hangvekar.
13:45They didn't make him play, which is surprising.
13:47I think he was intimidating. Because even in the press conference, he was saying that next year,
13:51we are getting two good fast bowlers.
13:53Yes, I believe that.
13:54Two batsmen who could really play well. And Hangvekar, I saw him play in the
13:59Under-19 World Cup and all that. He's a good all-rounder.
14:05Yeah, sorry. I mean, actually, if there is one unexplored area,
14:10which we didn't get to see this time is the under-19 heroes who…
14:15Correct.
14:16Five, six of them were lifted up by teams. Because they were not getting the slots, actually.
14:22I'll come to Arjun very quickly. Arjun, next year, whom do you want to see leading the team?
14:29Because, see, somebody like Ravi Shastri is saying that if Dhoni is fit and if he wants to do,
14:35he should be the captain. And of course, Jadeja chapter seems to be closing in on CSK.
14:40So, whom do you have in mind? I mean, it's MS or do you have somebody from this current lot?
14:50Yeah, I'm thinking. It's probably going to be Jadeja, Moeen Ali, Robin Ritkal.
14:57But maybe we can get
15:03DK and…
15:08Bangalore won't release him.
15:10DK, they will not release. They will not release. Otherwise,
15:12DK would have been a very good choice, you know.
15:15If Dhoni says, they'll give it.
15:17Yeah, yeah. Dhoni says, give it to us, they'll give it to us.
15:21If he says to Virat, release. Gone. Done and dusted.
15:25No, no, we're just joking.
15:27Yeah, that's a very interesting idea. But, you know, what happened was in the bargain,
15:32somebody like KS Bharat, this is the thing with IPL. Bharat didn't get a single game,
15:39I think, for Delhi so far.
15:40Two games.
15:41No, no, he played last two games.
15:44Okay, okay. Right.
15:46But yeah, just a comment.
15:49Yes.
15:49Yeah, sorry. Just a comment on CSK.
15:52They can say whenever Dhoni wants to leave. But the problem is not getting solved.
15:58They would have to keep looking for that succession plan on who is going to take over.
16:05Jadeja, unfortunately, you can say is a failure as far as leadership role.
16:10But Dhoni needs to play two seasons with a new leader entire season.
16:16I feel it's going to be Mohit Ali.
16:19Mohit Ali is a good bet for sure. There is somebody there for sure. And why not somebody
16:24like Deepak Chahar or even for that matter, Ruturaj, who could do well, if they can groom him.
16:33But I have a feeling Chennai will not go for an overseas player. If one understands the
16:39Chennai psyche, right, I think they may even look at Ruturaj. I mean, I don't know if he captains
16:45Maharashtra or that I'm not aware of. But yes, the succession plan of MS, I mean, that's again,
16:54you know, another possibly one whole episode, if I may say so.
16:58But I think he will play next year, Gautam.
17:01I would back what Ravi Shastri said. I think he should play one more year,
17:06play there and probably lead and see who can be the… maybe next year,
17:10mid-season, he can give it to somebody and look at the succession plan.
17:13But if Chennai needs to do anything good, he has to be there.
17:18Arjun wants to say something.
17:19Yes, Arjun, you want to say something? Yes, Arjun.
17:22I'm also thinking you could maybe bring back Ashwin. I mean, hopefully he's not retained.
17:30Nobody will release these players.
17:34See, the problem is Ashwin is very much his own man. He sometimes ends up doing things
17:41which keeps on getting told.
17:41I'm glad you took out the Ashwin. He is now forced, RR, to make him come one down and he
17:46goes on his haunches and hits six. So, Samson has forgotten that he needs to bat and he comes
17:52at number six. I was not on the show yesterday. So, I got a chance.
17:56Exactly. That is why I was…
17:59I think Satish and Shyam had dealt with it. I was going through the program. I think they
18:05dealt with it in great detail.
18:08No, no. I have no clue what is going on now because after Shreyas Iyer spilled the beans
18:14that the CEO is interfering in the selection. So, we at the moment, sitting outside, don't know
18:20whether it is the RR management or whether it is Sangakara calling the shots or is Mr. The Great
18:26Samson calling the shots. But it baffles me that a player of his caliber comes at number five.
18:32And even Samson took Sangakara's name when he was asked about Jaiswal. He never wanted Jaiswal
18:41to sit out. And this is unfortunate that all our young guys who are potential Indian contingent,
18:50they are going through this stress. And Jadeja is one example of this. This is in the long run
18:55not going to help us and IPL may become counterproductive. And Rohit Sharma made a
19:00Samson today of sending Daniel Sams at three.
19:04Naresh, one thing is, whether the suggestion is a good suggestion or a bad suggestion is
19:09what we have to look at. In Shreyas Iyer's case, I don't think it was any good because
19:14they have been chopping and changing frequently. Whereas in Jaiswal's case,
19:18he showed in the last two or three games which he played that we should have played right from day
19:23one. They unnecessarily kept him out.
19:25But all that is fine about Jaiswal. But why would you yourself come in fourth five?
19:31That dapples me. I am sorry. None of us could know. Today Ashwin has given a big statement
19:37saying that I was told that I will be number three. Then what is Samson doing?
19:41Good luck to RR for making it to the top 40.
19:46I think young Arjun wants to say. Yes, Arjun.
19:52This is what happens when team number 9 and team number 10 play. We are not discussing
19:58anything about our team. We are looking forward to how these two teams,
20:12these two heavyweights should go about. But you took the topic of Ashwin, no?
20:16Arjun, you started Ashwin. So we got an opportunity to sneak in.
20:20Yes, as I was saying, it is like Manchester City and Liverpool playing for relegation.
20:27But anyway, I will come to Anisbhai. Anisbhai, if you can just tell us,
20:33the tournament is on the home stretch. If you can just quickly say a few words about the competition
20:38and then we will go to tomorrow's game.
20:41Thank you, Gautam. Well, every day we have a wonderful competition lined up for you where
20:45you have to predict the winner. And I tell you, predicting the winner in this IPL is very,
20:50very difficult. And when you have people like Sanju Samson coming at number six,
20:53it's much more difficult. So if… Remember, tomorrow Sanju is not playing. Tomorrow there
20:57is another game. It's, I think, Punjab versus RCB. I don't think such things are going to happen
21:04unless Mayank decides to come at number eight. But that's for a later stage. But you predict
21:10and win an apparel kit as well as a one-year digital subscription. We had a lot of fun
21:14talking today, actually. Actually, Mayank started coming in number six or number seven.
21:18Yes. Yes.
21:22But at the same breath, I will ask you, Anisbhai, about what's going to happen in
21:27tomorrow's game. I think now RCB is looking… Hot favourite. Hot favourite. But you know what
21:34strange things happen if we have a seeming wicket and you don't know what's going to happen. But
21:39like, I don't know where they are playing tomorrow. But the fact is, today's wicket, I felt we were at
21:44lots. I think Dabham. I think tomorrow's wicket is Dabham. I'll back RCB.
21:53RCB, right. I'll come to Nareshbhai. What's your take? Whom do you see going through tomorrow's
21:58game? I'll also go with RCB playing 19.5 overs. Yeah. Because one ball is left over. 19.5 overs.
22:08Yeah, that's a good one. He's got to prove you wrong.
22:14Yeah. Brabant. Yeah, he's had a good season.
22:22Right. Right. No, no. I think we have to give him some balls to get his eye in and not be anxious.
22:29And let us see how he takes it from there. He is getting two more games. And then if possible,
22:36another two, who knows. But yes, I mean, I'll come to Satish and first check with him what
22:42he thinks. Is he thinking any differently? No, Gautam. The way I see Punjab, I don't see them.
22:50Maybe even if they win tomorrow, their chances are very limited in terms of playoffs. I think
22:55RCB will get those two points. RCB will win tomorrow's game because they have a lot to prove.
23:02And they are doing okay, I would say, excepting Kohli. But others are all doing well, including
23:07Patidar. Or you can look at, of course, Dinesh, DK has been in excellent form.
23:13Long road. Yeah.
23:15I would go with RCB, which has got a nice team, which is doing well. And they have come out
23:24and won some close games. So that gives them a lot of confidence. So I will go with them tomorrow.
23:30Right. Right. Right.
23:35Tomorrow, RCB or Punjab?
23:39He will go with Punjab.
23:41I think it's going to be RCB, to be honest.
23:44Oh, no. Punjab's boy, RCB. How can it be?
23:47My God, Arjun, you've changed sides.
23:52But it's like, because Punjab are so low on the table. They're just above CSK.
23:59And RCB have a good chance to qualify.
24:04I think it's kind of obvious who's going to win, even though RCB lost the last match.
24:10RCB.
24:12Okay.
24:16If you see, it's difficult to look beyond.
24:22Yes, it's difficult to look beyond RCB now, because, you know,
24:25if they had an issue about the middle order with Maxwell, sometimes getting to Cavalier.
24:31Now, these two youngsters, you know, they have really done well,
24:35taken the responsibility upon themselves. I mean, both Patidar and then
24:39number five, Lomror, especially, you know.
24:43So and the bowling had always been, you know, with Josh and
24:48Shiraj hasn't had a good season, but these things can happen.
24:52So, and, you know, those two points will take them to 16. But, you know, sometimes if somebody
24:58acts as the party, then it will be interesting to see. Then one has to wait for again next week
25:05to see what's going to happen and who's going to take that fourth place. So right now, I think
25:10it's 4-0, 5-0, all in favor of RCB. And chances are there could be.
25:22So on that note, yes. Thank you, you know, for a very entertaining discussion.
25:28As we talk about the future of these two heavyweight teams who were
25:32struggling a bit today in the end, but Mumbai picking up a welcome win.
25:37So we'll see how the rest of the tournament goes. Thank you and good night.
25:51you