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The hallmark of a good team is how it responds under pressure. Mumbai Indians came up well short in that regards in a virtual do-or-die game against Delhi Daredevils at the Buffalo Park Stadium yesterday.
Things went from bad to worse for Mumbai after they lost their third straight match to be all but out of the semi-final race. After yesterday's seven-wicket defeat, they have just seven points from nine games and will need a miracle to qualify from here on.
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Mumbai were shockingly timid in their approach. They allowed themselves to get rattled by their in-form opponents. Their body language was poor. Their plans looked to be made in desperation and they all fell flat.
All moves failed
The change in JP Duminy's role from middle-order anchor to opener also backfired. The result was a four-ball duck for the South African and also left a big hole in the middle order. The senior pros were expected to show the way but failed to keep their nerve.
The vim and vigour expected from a team trying to fight for survival was missing. The batsmen were strangely subdued. The main issue with the Mumbai batting is that most of the players haven't been able to cope with the extra bounce of the South African wickets. The selection of Australian Luke Ronchi was a move aimed keeping that in mind. It fell flat as he ran himself out for zero. The rest of it was a cascading effect.
There was not much imagination in the team combination as well. With the spinners generally having a good tournament, and with your pace arsenal not exactly spitting venom, there was a merit in giving leg-spinner Chetanya Nanda a chance.
Spinners Harbhajan Singh and Duminy kept Mumbai in the game.u00a0 The need of a back-up spin option was felt in the 16th over. At the 15 over mark, Delhi were under some pressure, needing 43 to win off 30 balls when Sachin Tendulkar decided to bring himself on.
It turned out to be a disastrous move as AB de Villiers, plundered 19 runs from the over to make it a cakewalk for Daredevils.
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