IPL 2022: Mumbai need an extraordinary effort against Lucknow

That Mumbai Indians are in a rut hardly need to be reiterated. Five defeats in as many matches this season have left the five-time champions at the foot of the points table.

They have hardly looked competitive in any of the matches. Even when they did in phases, they squandered opportunities through blunders that even a team full of greenhorns would not commit in a junior tournament.

In their last game against the Punjab Kings, they were on course for a win despite having a big target (199) to chase.

If not for the run outs of Tilak Varma and Kieron Pollard, Rohit Sharma’s men perhaps would not have fallen 13 runs short of the target.

I’ve dwelt at length on MI to highlight the difficulty quotient for them in Saturday’s encounter against Lucknow Super Giants.

New entrants to the IPL, LSG have nevertheless been among the more successful teams so far this season. To win matches in such a mercurial format, you need to play to your strength and make fewer mistakes.

Mumbai have been terribly error-prone in contrast to LSG who have looked compact and secure, with most of their players performing to potential, especially less-fancied players like Avesh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi and Deepak Hooda. To beat such a team and start a turnaround will require something extraordinary from MI.

Ayaz Memon is an Indian sports writer and commentator