IPL 2020: 3 Mistakes committed by Mumbai Indians against Chennai Super Kings

The opening encounter of Indian Premier League 2020 turned out to be a perfect comeback for MS Dhoni. Chennai Super Kings defeated Mumbai Indians by 5 wickets. This was the first game for Dhoni after India’s defeat against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final last year. CSK won with 4 balls to spare and the victory looked convincing, however, the match was a lot closer than what the scorecard suggests.

The majority of players were playing after a break of 6 months and the rustiness was there to be seen. The defending champions, Mumbai Indians could have finished on the winning side if some of the aspects would have turned out differently. Notably, Mumbai is one of the strongest sides on paper and Chennai was playing without the likes of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh.

Here are the 3 mistakes committed by Mumbai Indians that made them lose the opener:
1. Over aggressive batting approach in the middle overs
Mumbai Indians were cruising ahead with the solid start they had generated. At halfway through their innings, the run rate was well above 8 and they were looking to finish around 180. However, with an over-aggressive approach against Chennai spinners, the Rohit Sharma-led side invited a flurry of wickets and lost their strongest finishers.

With no support from the other end, Kieron Pollard was not able to finish the innings on a high, and Mumbai were restricted to 162 which turned out to be below par.

2. Rusty fielding
The players from both sides were playing after a long halt and it was there to be seen. However, Mumbai’s fielding looked quite sluggish as there were a lot of missed chances. There were several dropped catches and misfields that let CSK batsmen settle and they took the game away from them.

However, it was only the first game of the tournament and the four-time champions are known to come back stronger, but in order to uphold their title, Mumbai needs to improve their fielding.

3. Didn’t capitalize on the excellent bowling start
Even after putting up an average total to the board, Mumbai Indians were quite in the game with the perfect start they had with the ball. Their new recruitments Trent Boult and James Pattinson picked up two big wickets in the first two overs and dismissed both the openers.

However, Mumbai Indians didn’t capitalize on the golden opportunity and allowed Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis to develop a century partnership. With a bit more assaulting approach, Mumbai could have found a few more wickets to put the Yellow army under pressure.