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Saturday night will see a clash between the master and the apprentice. MS Dhoni, who is on the last bend of his career and has been turning up only for <keyword id="13886" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Chennai-Super-Kings">Chennai Super Kings</keyword> (CSK) since his retirement from international cricket last year, will lead the three-time champions against Delhi Capitals (DC), who will be captained by Rishabh Pant, his long-term successor as India's first choice wicketkeeper. Pant has said in the past that he wants to emulate Dhoni but seems to be carving his own niche. While his power-hitting has already been well-known, his batting went a notch higher since the last Indian Premier League (IPL) as he helped India win the Test series in Australia and against England at home. His wicketkeeping skills came as a pleasant surprise during both series and now it will be his captaincy skills that will be put to test. Pant replaced the injured Shreyas Iyer, who is nursing a shoulder injury. The last year's runners-up have also added Steve Smith to their squad. Their pace bowling attack, comprising Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, <keyword id="149050" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Umesh-Yadav">Umesh Yadav</keyword> and Ishant Sharma along with all-rounders Chris Woakes, Tom Curran and Marcus Stoinis, is among the best in the league. Experienced and acclaimed spinners like off-spinner R Ashwin and leg-spinner Amit Mishra make up a very strong bowling line-up that will test the CSK batting line-up that performed very poorly in the last edition. The CSK batting will rely a lot on Faf du Plessis but the return of Suresh Raina, who missed the last season, will be a boost for the three-time champions as they look to do better this time than the seventh place finish they got last season. India's Test batting stalwart Cheteshwar Pujara too has been included in the CSK line-up for his first IPL in seven years. The India No. 3 batsman was seen using a higher back-lift and hitting sixes in one of the net sessions. CSK blundered last year by not reading the pitches well and not playing their spinners early enough. They realised their mistake and started to give Mitchell Santner and Imran Tahir matches. But it was too late by then. One man who could make a difference is Shardul Thakur, who has done exceedingly well for India since the last IPL. He would be leading their pace bowling along with Deepak Chahar or Aussie Jason Behrendorff, who has come in for Josh Hazlewood. But essentially, CSK's fate on Saturday will depend on how their batting stands up to DC's bowling. DC squad: Rishabh Pant (captain/wicketkeeper), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Sam Billings, Shimron Hetmyer, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Umesh Yadav, Tom Curran, Avesh Khan, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Ripal Patel, Lukman Hussain Meriwala, M Siddharth, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Chris Woakes, <keyword id="3788898" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vishnu-Vinod">Vishnu Vinod</keyword> (wicketkeeper), <keyword id="128070" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aditya-Tare">Aditya Tare</keyword> (wicketkeeper) CSK squad: MS Dhoni (captain/wicketkeeper), Suresh Raina, Narayan Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KM Asif, Karn Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Lungi Ngidi, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Imran Tahir, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, <keyword id="2102949" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="K-Gowtham">K Gowtham</keyword>, Cheteshwar Pujara, M.Harisankar Reddy, K.Bhagath Varma, C Hari Nishaanth, R Sai Kishore <h4 style="color: rgb(44, 44, 45);">SEE ALSO:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/nokia-x20-specifications-nokia-new-phones-price-in-india/articleshow/81981039.cms">Six new Nokia smartphones announced – price, specifications and availability details you should know</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/founders-take-note-heres-why-most-startups-fail/articleshow/81981138.cms">Founders, take note: here’s why most startups fail</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/google-phone-app-now-lets-you-record-calls-automatically-from-unknown-numbers/articleshow/81982791.cms">Google Phone app now lets you record calls automatically from unknown numbers</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/adar-poonawalla-serum-institute-of-india-has-bought-stake-policybazaar/articleshow/81985425.cms">Serum Institute of India buys into IPO-bound insurance unicorn PolicyBazaar, as True North sells part stake in secondary sale</a> </h4><h4 style="color: rgb(44, 44, 45);"></h4>

It's master vs disciple: Dhoni takes on Pant in today's second IPL match as CSK clashes with DC

(Image: India Times) 
 
We are often excited to find <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/ipl-2017-these-are-the-richest-players-of-the-season/articleshow/58027902.cms">IPL players getting rich overnight</a>. Like every other year, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/ipl-2017-these-are-the-richest-players-of-the-season/articleshow/58027902.cms">cricket enthusiasts analyse</a> which player got sold for maximum price. 
 Then there are the rags to riches stories. For instance, this year Thangarasu <keyword id="6372060" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Natarajan">Natarajan</keyword> who got on board <keyword id="43358" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Punjab-Kings-XI">Punjab Kings XI</keyword> was sold for whopping Rs 3 crore. Natarajan's mother was a street vendor and his father a railway porter. <keyword id="6354312" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IPL">IPL</keyword> 2017's story doesn't stop getting any less interesting. <keyword id="1807915" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mohammed-Siraj">Mohammed Siraj</keyword> of <keyword id="1494441" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sunrisers-Hyderabad">Sunrisers Hyderabad</keyword> was soled for Rs 2.6 crore. For <keyword id="261464" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Siraj">Siraj</keyword>, whose father is an autorickshaw driver, it's definitely a dream come true. 
 
To know about the richest cricketer this season, read <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/ipl-2017-these-are-the-richest-players-of-the-season/articleshow/58027902.cms">here.</a> 
 
But do they actually get the crores entirely they are sold for? Not really. We plugged in a <a href="https://www.quora.com/How-much-do-IPL-players-earn-of-their-actual-bidding-amount">Quora</a> feed that talks about the same. 
Go through the slideshow below to find out.

Do IPL players actually get the whole amount they were sold for? Check it out here

<keyword id="99276" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="arjun-tendulkar" source="Orion">Arjun Tendulkar</keyword>, son of cricket legend <keyword id="6354267" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sachin-tendulkar" source="Orion">Sachin Tendulkar</keyword>, has not been included in the <keyword id="6358070" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="mumbai" source="Orion">Mumbai</keyword> <keyword id="3028" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ranji-trophy" source="Orion">Ranji Trophy</keyword> squad for the knockout matches to be held in June. Prithvi Shaw will lead the squad that also includes fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhaval Kulkarni, and Tushar Deshpande for the match against Uttarakhand in Bengaluru. In February this year, Arjun Tendulkar and India batter Ajinkya Rahane were named in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy squad. The left-handed allrounder, who has represented Mumbai in T20 matches, is yet to make his first-class debut. Rahane is still recovering from a shoulder injury. Arjun Tendulkar was picked by the Mumbai Indians in the IPL mega auction for Rs 30 lakh but did not get to play a single match even after MI were eliminated from title contention early after losing eight consecutive matches. The team management's decision not to give him an IPL debut had generated much heat on social media with fans trolling Mumbai Indians skipper <keyword id="13937" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rohit-sharma" source="Orion">Rohit Sharma</keyword> for their decision. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Ranji squad for the knockout matches includes two brothers -- middle-order batsman <keyword id="66876" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sarfaraz-khan" source="Orion">Sarfaraz Khan</keyword>, who played for Delhi Capitals in the IPL, and his 18-year-old brother Musheer. An opening batsman and left-arm spinner, Musheer has done well for Mumbai in the Cooch Behar Trophy, thus getting a call-up for the senior squad. The Senior Selection Committee of Mumbai Cricket Association led by Salil Ankola and comprising Gulam Parkar, Sunil More, Prasad Desai, and Anand Yalvigi also picked Arman Jaffer, nephew of former India opener <keyword id="7862" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="wasim-jaffer" source="Orion">Wasim Jaffer</keyword>, for the knockout matches. The Mumbai squad: Prithvi Shaw (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Bhupen Lalwani, Arman Jaffer, Sarfaraz Khan, Suved Parkar, Aakarshit Gomel, Aditya Tare, Hardik Tamore, Aman Khan, Sairaj Patil, Shams Mulani, Dhrumil Matkar, Tanush Kotian, Shashank Attarde, Dhaval Kulkarni, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Awasthi, Roystan Dias, Siddharth Raut, Musheer Khan.

Arjun Tendulkar not included in Mumbai squad for Ranji Trophy knockout matches

Everything comes at a price even cricket players. Indian Premier League (IPL) season kicked-off amid glitzy ceremony and eight teams will be contesting with each other to win the coveted trophy. 
 
Preparations for the IPL extravaganza had begun long time back with auction of cricketers from India and across the world (minus Pakistan). 
 Owners of the eight teams- Delhi Daredevils, <keyword id="13880" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mumbai-Indians">Mumbai Indians</keyword>, Kings XI Punjab, <keyword id="1494441" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sunrisers-Hyderabad">Sunrisers Hyderabad</keyword>, <keyword id="6354467" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kolkata-Knight-Riders">Kolkata Knight Riders</keyword>, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions- retained and even poached players from other teams by bidding a higher amount. 
 
The bidding process threw many surprises as players like Nathu Singh were netted for Rs 3.2 crore. Even M Ashwin was auctioned for Rs 4.5 crore from previous Rs 10 lakh. 
 
Here is a complete list of players who were auctioned for crore of rupees, taking the whole cricket festival a notch higher 
 
 
 
Shane Watson- Rs 9.50 crore 
 
Kane Richardson-Rs 2 crore 
 
Stuart Binny-Rs 2 crore 
 
Jaydev Unadkat- Rs 1.60 crore 
 
John Hastings-Rs 1.30 crore 
 
Mohit Sharma-Rs 6.50 crore 
 
Kyle Abbot- Rs 2.10 crore 
 
Pawan Negi-Rs 8.50 crore 
 
Chris Morris-Rs 7 crore 
 
Carlos Brathwaite- Rs 4.20 crore 
 
Sanju Samson- Rs 4.20 crore 
 
Karun Nair- Rs 4 crore 
 
Rishabh Pant- Rs 1.90 crore 
 
Jos Buttler- Rs 3.80 crore 
 
Nathu Singh- Rs 3.20 crore 
 
Tim Southee- Rs 2.50 crore 
 
Krunal Pandya- Rs 2 crore 
 
Kishore Kamath- Rs 1.40 crore 
 
Yuvraj Singh- Rs 7 crore 
 
Ashish Nehra- Rs 5.50 crore 
 
Deepak Hooda- Rs 4.20 crore 
 
Barinder Sran- Rs 1.20 crore 
 
Aditya Tare- Rs 1.20 crore 
 
Mitchell Marsh- Rs 4.80 crore 
 
Murugan Ashwin- Rs 4.50 crore 
 
Ishant Sharma-Rs 3.80 crore 
 
Kevin Pietersen- Rs 3.50 crore 
 
Irfan Pathan- Rs 1 crore 
 
Thisara Perera-Rs 1 crore 
 
Aaron Finch- Rs 1 crore 
 
Praveen Kumar- Rs 3.50 crore 
 
Dwayne Smith- Rs 2.30 crore 
 
Dale Steyn- Rs 2.30 crore 
 
Dinesh Karthik- Rs 2.30 crore 
 
Dhawal Kulkarni- Rs 2 crore 
 
Eklavya Dwivedi- Rs 1 crore 
 
(Images: Indiatimes)

Cricketers who turned millionaires, thanks to IPL-9

In the last league match of <keyword id="6354312" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="IPL">IPL</keyword> 7, <keyword id="13880" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Mumbai-Indians">Mumbai Indians</keyword> needed to chase 190 in 87 balls (14.3 overs) at a required rate of 13.2 per over to claim the fourth and final play-offs spot available. <keyword id="61632" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Kieron-Pollard">Kieron Pollard</keyword> said during the mid-innings break that the home team would go all for for it, seeing as if they did not get those 190 runs in the required overs their tournament was over and <keyword id="13802" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Rajasthan-Royals">Rajasthan Royals</keyword> would progress. What happened next was unbelievable, as Corey Anderson slammed an unbeaten 95 off just 44 balls and found support from Ambati Rayudu and Aditya Tare to seal a sensational five-wicket win. 

	Here, gocricket.com presents the big overs that made for a pulsating chase as MI took an impossible situation and turned it into a most memorable win.
 

	4th over: 19 runs

	Mumbai were 34 for 1 in three. They needed 156 from 69 balls. Anderson launched Dhawal Kulkarni into the sight screen first ball, then miscued one back to the bowler. A single got on strike Michael Hussey, who flicked six over square leg. A wide, double and triple made made it 19 off the over, leaving MI to score at 13 per over.
 9th over: 15 runs Thirty nine balls, 101 runs required. <keyword id="791756" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="Kevon-Cooper">Kevon Cooper</keyword>, who had dismissed Hussey and Kieron Pollard in his first over to set MI back, was taken for a tap. Anderson got four off the second ball, two off the third and six off the fourth. A big over to keep MI ticking. 10th over: 16 runs <keyword id="13937" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Rohit-Sharma">Rohit Sharma</keyword> started the over by putting a full toss from Kulkarni away for four past fine leg, but fell on the second as he lofted to sweeper cover. A wide followed, then a dot ball which saw Kulkarni miss a chance to run out Ambati Rayudu. Anderson reached fifty off 25 balls by depositing the fourth ball over long-off for six. Rayudu smashed the final ball down the ground for four. MI needed 70 off 27 balls. 11th over: 19 runs With 70 needed off 27 balls, <keyword id="6378477" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Shane-Watson">Shane Watson</keyword> gave the ball to James Faulkner, normally his death-overs specialist. First ball, Anderson made room and drilled the ball straight back past the stumps for four. A double, single, wide, single followed. Back on strike for the fifth ball, Anderson swung it over long-on for six. The sixth was a yorker, jammed down to third man for four. Now 51 needed from 21. 

	12th over: 18 runs

	Watson, who conceded 15 off his first over, took the ball from Faulkner. It proved a bad move. Rayudu carved the first ball over third man, the second over extra cover, the third past mid-on. Three balls, three fours. A single, boundary and single followed. Now 33 needed from 15.
 

	15th over: 13 runs

	Mumbai managed 24 off the 13th and 14th over to leave the equation at nine off three balls. Watson entrusted Faulkner the duty. First ball, Anderson edged to third man for one. The second, criminally, was a leg-stump full toss. Rayudu swung it over long leg for six. Now two runs needed off one ball. Rayudu tried to cut a short-of-a-length ball but it lobbed to short extra cover, who underarmed the ball at the nonstriker's end but missed. Rayudu turned back for the second but was run out. He sank to his knees in despair, but within moments the umpires ruled that because the scores were tied, Mumbai could get their NRR over that of Rajasthan's if they hit the next ball for four. Faulkner, after several moments of discussions and strategies with the RR think-tank, sent down a second consecutive full toss outside leg stump. Aditya Tare swung it away for six over square leg to cue ecstatic scenes. The MI dugout was cleared, the fans went berserk, Tare raised his jersey over his head, football style, and ran around the field like a man possessed.

IPL: How MI Chased 190 In 88 Balls

Last year’s champion <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/teams/mumbai-indians/31001/home">Mumbai Indians</a> crashed out of the Champions League T20 losing to <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/teams/northern-knights/87001/players">Northern Knights</a> by six wickets in a one-sided game at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur. 
 
MI were outclassed in all departments by the Kiwi side that did not put a foot wrong on their way to securing a place in the main draw. The table toppers in the qualification round, Knights go into the tournament proper along with <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/teams/lahore-lions/89001/players">Lahore Lions</a>, who had earlier defeated Southern Express by 55 runs. 
 
Chasing a 133-run target, NK were off to a brilliant start with openers Anton Devcich and <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/Kane-Stuart-Williamson/6001/6071">Kane Williamson</a> putting up an 83-run stand. By the time MI managed to get their first breakthrough in the tenth over, the asking rate was well under five runs per over. If anything that could have bothered <keyword id="836840" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="the-knights">the Knights</keyword> from there on was some quick wickets but that didn’t happen. MI spinners failed to get any purchase ruling out any chance of a comeback. 
 
Williamson top scored for NK with a 36-ball 53 before being snared by Jasprit Bumrah in the 13th over but it was all too late in the day as <keyword id="1731187" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Daryl-Mitchell">Daryl Mitchell</keyword> and Scott Styris completed the formalities with 16 balls to spare. 
 
Earlier, poor shot selection and another top-order crumble crippled MI's chances of making it to the main draw as NK kept the Champions League Twenty20 holders to 132/9. Had it not been some useful contributions from the likes of skipper <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/Kieron-Adrian-Pollard/10001/10060">Kieron Pollard</a> and tailenders Lasith Malinga (20 off eight balls) and Shreyas Gopal (24 off 12), MI would have struggled to get to the total they finally managed to. 
 
Put in to bat by Daniel Flynn, MI got off to a disappointing start losing <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/Michael-Edward-Killeen-Hussey/31001/1033">Michael Hussey</a> (7) with just 10 runs on the board. It was the pressure created by the Knights' opening bowlers, Tim Southee and <keyword id="835484" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Trent-Boult">Trent Boult</keyword>, that stifled MI's big-hitting batsmen who were forced to make mistakes. Southee and Boult maintained a nagging line to restrict MI to just 20 runs in their first four overs. The duo kept up the pressure for most of the innings, conceding just 45 runs between them in their eight overs and taking four wickets, three of which were to Southee. 
 
The flow of wickets meant that MI were always under pressure to get up their run rate. Knights were excellent in the field, adding to the chokehold that Styris applied with his canny stump-to-stump seam-up deliveries. Williamson pulled off a brilliant catch, diving in front at short cover to get rid of Jalaj Saxena in the sixth over which gave Styris his first wicket, and the veteran allrounder removed Lendl Simmons in the next over. The MI opener paid the price of forcing himself too early in the shot while trying to cut a straight delivery that crashed into the stumps. Trying to make room for a late cut, Aditya Tare nicked to wicketkeeper Bradley Watling, and Styris bowed out with superb bowling figures of 4-0-21-3, a performance which earned him the Man of the Match award. 
 <keyword id="13880" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mumbai-Indians">Mumbai Indians</keyword> had lost half of their side by the 11th over with not even 50 runs on the scoreboard. Pollard managed to salvage some pride with a 24-ball 31 and Malinga and Gopal swung their bats in the last couple overs, but MI needed something exceptional to stop Knights from bolting into the main stage of the CLT20 but that did not happen. 
 With this win, the Northern Knights join <keyword id="13883" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kings-XI-Punjab">Kings XI Punjab</keyword>, Hobart Hurricanes, Cape Cobras and Barbados Tridents in Group B. Lahore Lions, who came second in the qualifiers, join <keyword id="13886" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Chennai-Super-Kings">Chennai Super Kings</keyword>, <keyword id="6354925" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kolkata">Kolkata</keyword> Knight Riders, Perth Scorchers and Dolphins in Group A. 
 
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 132/9 (<keyword id="61632" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kieron-Pollard">Kieron Pollard</keyword> 31, Scott Styris 3/21) lose to Northern Knights 133/4 in 17.2 overs (Kane Williamson 53, Jasprit Bumrah 2/26) by six wickets.

T20 Cricket: Clinical Northern Knights Send Mumbai Indians Crashing Out

Four defeats in a row after the heady highs of 2013, when <keyword id="13880" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Mumbai-Indians">Mumbai Indians</keyword> won the rare double of the IPL and the Champions League, has put the spotlight on a fickle batting order. <keyword id="13937" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Rohit-Sharma">Rohit Sharma</keyword>, <keyword id="10149" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Mike-Hussey">Mike Hussey</keyword> and Corey Anderson look every bit the quality that they're worth, but a closer look will point out that one is retired and doesn't play too much cricket, another has returned from a serious knee injury, while the third has been struggling with form for quite some time in India colours. 
 You could argue that they have been outplayed in all departments in the four games they've played, but a batting of this quality repeatedly failing has put more pressure on their bowling to either restrict oppositions, or bowl them out cheaply. There is a small matter of MI's star all-round duo of Corey Anderson and Kieron Pollard also not throwing their weight into the fixtures as yet, even though Pollard somewhat redeemed himself with a tidy innings of 33 against <keyword id="6354884" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Delhi-Daredevils">Delhi Daredevils</keyword>. 
 
The opening combination was shuffled against Delhi Daredevils after Hussey's travails at the top of the order. Since retiring from international cricket, Hussey hasn't featured in many team sheets and for a batsman who relies on effortless stroke-play, timing has deserted his game, and he struggled throughout his 18-ball 10 at Sharjah even though he went in at five. 
 The Australian is of great pedigree, and has repeatedly shown his worth when he was with <keyword id="13886" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Chennai-Super-Kings">Chennai Super Kings</keyword>, but for MI to persist with him may compound their problems at this stage. Ben Dunk, another Australian is warming the bench and the management may want to give the veteran the rest he needs to return to his A-game. 
 
Rohit, on the other hand, continues to baffle with his on-again-off-again form. A one-day double-hundred and several good scores have intertwined with painful ordeals at the crease, all during a period where he has enjoyed some of his best times in an India shirt, a Test century on debut included. He batted at No 4 for his franchise in the first three games, but decided to take the opening slot against DD, not that bad a decision given he opens for India in limited-overs cricket, only to run himself out to a direct hit. 
 
Anderson showed glimpses of his batting prowess after he was promoted to one-drop against Chennai Super Kings, but has struggled on the slow surfaces of UAE. Mumbai Indians have done well to promote him up the order, for making him and Pollard bat at five and six leaves them with little to make a mark with in the end. 
 
The Indian recruits, some of whom played an integral part in their title run a year ago, have come undone with the likes of Aditya Tare and Ambati Rayudu not converting their starts into substantial scores. They form a key part of the MI batting line-up, and even though CM Gautam gave the team solidity against DD, foreign signings living up neither to their name nor their game is alarming. 
 
"Our batting needs to improve. We have tried things like changing the batting order," Rohit said after the loss to DD. "It's not working out at all. Our batters need to step up. Hopefully, we would win a few matches when we go back to Mumbai." 
 A change in location with the tournament shifting back to India next week may give the franchise the boost they need on home turf. The IPL is a long tournament, but often teams have failed to arrest a slide as poor as four consecutive defeats. Teams often rely on their overseas signings to lift their performances and <keyword id="13883" type="COMPANY" weightage="40" keywordseo="Kings-XI-Punjab">Kings XI Punjab</keyword> and Chennai Super Kings have benefited from the forms of some of their star signings. Two of them are Glenn Maxwell and Dwayne Smith. How Mumbai Indians would be ruing having let them go to two teams that are leading the points table is anybody's guess.

IPL: Foreign Flops Hurting
Mumbai Indians

Almost all the captains in the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League have had some moments of joy, but one <keyword id="16561" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="skipper">skipper</keyword> who has seldom been found without any jest is Mumbai Indians' Rohit Sharma. Not many expected MI to be one of the first teams to be written off after such a successful campaign last season, when they clinched their maiden title as well as the Champions League T20. More than Rohit's smile gone missing, the look on his face is more gloomy than reassuring, more burdensome than inspirational. After all, he had to bear the burden of MI being defending champions despite the fact that their icon player <keyword id="6354267" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Sachin-Tendulkar">Sachin Tendulkar</keyword> was gone and a couple key components not around. After seven losses in ten games, Mumbai's chances of making the play-offs are next to impossible barring some earth-shattering mathematical calculations. The manner in which they were found wanting in a six-wicket loss to <keyword id="6354467" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Kolkata-Knight-Riders">Kolkata Knight Riders</keyword> on Wednesday night just went on to show that their near-perfect win over Sunrisers Hyderabad was just one hit game amid many listless performances. 

	There are many factors that did not work for MI during a so far painful campaign for them. Here we pinpoint the major ones.
 

	It all started at the auction table
 One of the biggest setbacks for the defending champions was to see the players they let go off from their 2013 squad do exceedingly well this year for other franchises. The biggest examples being Dwayne Smith, <keyword id="470051" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Glenn-Maxwell">Glenn Maxwell</keyword> and Mitchell Johnson, who contributed strongly whenever being called upon to do so last year. Especially Smith, who had made it a habit of forging solid opening stands with Tendulkar, invariably creating momentum for strokeplayers like Rohit, Dinesh Karthik and Kieron Pollard to tee off at any given point of time. That opening slot turned out to be a massive weak link for the team this year as new recruit and veteran <keyword id="6377175" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Michael-Hussey">Michael Hussey</keyword> (30 runs from four games) and Ben Dunk (40 runs from three games) failed miserably with the bat. They alternated the one opening slot with Aditya Tare (106 runs from 10 games) and CM Gautam (121 runs from nine games) but neither could live up to the billing. Plus, playing at least three uncapped Indian players in all matches turned out be a big problem for MI as the options did not enthuse confidence. The reason being the retention of five players for the 2014 auction and the heavy spending on Hussey, Corey Anderson left MI with less purse to buy quality domestic players. 

	Non-performing overseas players
 After being touted as the next big thing in world cricket, fastest ODI centurion Anderson was the cynosure of all eyes when <keyword id="6354312" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="IPL">IPL</keyword> 7 began. However, 150 runs and four wickets in 10 isn't what you'd want to get from a player who was paid Rs 4.5 crore. Perhaps the big occasion, near alien conditions and huge crowds overawed Anderson but what about Hussey? The former Chennai Super Kings veteran was a real force in the two-time champion side and was expected to do much the same for his new franchise, but his poor returns put MI under tremendous pressure and invariably exposed the frailties of a susceptible middle order. 

	Big runs go missing
 

	After the loss to KKR, Rohit said: "We need to keep scoring 170-plus if we need to win consistently, we aren't doing that." His reasoning is valid. MI have crossed 170 twice so far and ended up winning those games. Their highest run-getter in the tournament, Ambati Rayudu (310 runs in 10 games) is languishing at ninth in the top run-getters. Rohit, Pollard, Rayudu and Lendl Simmons (a late recruit) have combined for seven fifties that includes one score above 70 and two over 60.
 

	After Malinga, who?
 

	The champion bowler that he is in this format, Malinga didn't disappoint with 16 wickets in 10 games. However, he lacked support from the other end. The only instance in the tournament so far when a MI bowler took three or more wickets is Malinga's 4/23 in the season opener. Harbhajan Singh's drought of wickets has not helped apply pressure in the middle overs. In comparison to 24 wickets last season, Harbhajan's eight this year leaves a big vacuum.
 Harbhajan, Johnson, Malinga and Pragyan Ojha took 84 wickets last season. In 2014, injury to <keyword id="12644" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Zaheer-Khan">Zaheer Khan</keyword> has forced MI to try Jasprit Bumrah (two wickets), <keyword id="6366707" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Praveen-Kumar">Praveen Kumar</keyword> (two wickets) and Pawan Suyal (one wicket) as his replacement. Ojha (economy 8.29) and Pollard (10.73) have been the biggest disappointments with one wicket apiece. 

	A combination of the above factors has left Rohit with more than just a creased forehead. Last year, the responsibility brought the best out of him but now the burden of leading an under-performing group is looking too heavy a yoke to bear.

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