Indian Premier League: Hindsight thinking was one thing that the Mumbai Indians couldn't resort to after a miserable campaign in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, after they finished the season with a 30-run defeat to Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium.
Batting coach Kieron Pollard refused to engage in thinking about what would have happened if they had done this or that, and admitted that MI were unable to play to their potential and could not string together wins even when they had recovered from a poor start.
Their final match on Sunday was an example of how they repeatedly lost the plot just when they were in a position to take control.
On Sunday, MI reduced RR to 119/5 but allowed them to recover and post a massive 205/8 in 20 overs. Despite losing Rohit Sharma with the team yet to open its account, the Mumbai Indians had reached a strong position thanks to fighting knocks by Suryakumar Yadav (60), Will Jacks (33), and skipper Hardik Pandya (34). But Pandya's untimely departure and that of SKY soon after meant MI finished with 175/9 and lost the match by 30 runs.
The match summed up the Mumbai Indians' overall campaign in IPL 2024 as they stumbled at crucial junctures, losing key moments throughout as they finished ninth among 10 teams in the points table.
But Pollard refused to engage in hindsight thinking.
"To be honest, at the end of the season, you know, what if, if this had happened, if we had done this, if we had done that, if we had played this one, if we had... It's a bit of that. And, you know, overall, it has been disappointing for all of us," said Pollard in the post-match press conference after MI's last match of the season at Wankhede on Sunday.
"You know, as a Mumbai Indians team, I'm sure the fans and everyone would have felt the same. And there's no hiding, you know, from that. You wouldn't go through the entire tournament.
"We weren't able to sort of string together wins and use the momentum when we got it. And I think, you know, at the end of it, when you look at it rationally, I think we got the position that, you know, we did zero in terms of the type of cricket that we played, throughout the tournament," Pollard added.
Asked whether the Mumbai Indians need a reboot for the next season and leave out some aged players -- like Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and skipper Hardik Pandya -- who did not perform up to their potential this season, Pollard said he would leave that to team management, but felt that it should not be a knee-jerk reaction, but should be carried out after careful analysis.
"Again, that's where better decision-making is going to come about. If you sit here right now and say you need to do this, you need to do this, you need to do that, I think that would be irresponsible from a management perspective. It's not something I'm sure that we are going to do right at present," he said.
"Right now, it's not the time and place to talk about that. All these things would be sort of emotional, you know, decisions and thinking of every aspect of what's needed. I think everyone needs that time and space to go sit down, recollect, and have a fair assessment as to where everything actually went wrong for us," said Pollard.
Asked whether they should have had an experienced overseas batter in the middle order to complement the top-heavy batting order, Pollard dismissed it as a thought in hindsight.
"Again, it's a what-if. So you say we don't have an experienced batter, then all of a sudden we're going to look for an experienced batter. But when you look within our ranks, we had Quinton de Kock, who started back up to Ryan (Rickelton), we had Sherfane Rutherford, who has played the last 12-18 months around the world, even in international cricket, and did well. He was back up to guys with Will Jacks coming in in the middle of the tournament.
"So I won't go into that. I think we have what it takes. I think at the end of the day, on the match days and when we needed to win critical moments, that's when we didn't win critical moments. So that's also hindsight thinking.
"Again, it's a what-if. So you say we don't have an experienced batter, then all of a sudden we're going to look for an experienced batter. But when you look within our ranks, we had Quinton de Kock, who started back up to Ryan (Rickelton), we had Sherfane Rutherford, who has played the last 12-18 months around the world, even in international cricket, and did well. He was back up to guys with Will Jacks coming in in the middle of the tournament.
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He said some players, like Jasprit Bumrah, started with niggles, but said, as chief coach Mahela Jayawardene said in the pre-match press conference, the pacer had played the T20 World Cup with the injury and helped India win the title.