If you are a fan of Mumbai Indians, then your worst fears are going to come true. Yet again, Mumbai Indians have been ditched by their overseas players in their third league match played at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on 20th March 2010.
Pollard who was paid a fortune took 19 balls for his 21, which is very sedate by usual T20 standards and nowhere near to the standards set by him in Champions League where he attained instant stardom. Bravo too failed when it mattered as was the case in last year by scoring a single in two deliveries. If that was not enough Bravo went for 35 runs in 3.1 overs, while Pollard was carted for 24 runs in 2 overs. The combined contribution of the match winning West Indian duo was a paltry 22 runs of 21 deliveries while batting while being clobbered for 59 runs of 31 deliveries while bowling.
Another cause of concern for Mumbai Indians has been the fact that the normally reliable Jayasurya especially in the shorter formats of the game has struggled to get runs for Mumbai Indians in IPL2 and in the league matches of the third edition. To be fair to the marauder from Sri Lanka he gave exceptional performance in the inaugural edition especially in the latter half of the tournament.
Mumbai Indians concern do not end with under performance of their overseas players as some of their contracted players from other States too have been under performing for quite sometime. Harbhajan Singhs recent batting has been exceptional especially in Test Matches over the last couple of years but when it comes to putting up some runs for Mumbai Indians especially in critical situations, he has failed very miserably.
Other teams too have suffered from under performance of their overseas players with Gibbs being the main culprit. Though Gibbs contribution in last years final was instrumental in Deccan Charges winning the championship, it was more the case of Royal Challengers Bangalore making a mess of a easy chase and thereby making Gibbs contribution more valuable than want it actually was. Boucher too is guilty of under performing.
While many overseas players have underformed it is Mumbai Indians who have been affected the most.