Top order woes mask Mumbai's bowling conundrum

Mumbai Indians have been up to their usual ways in the early part of this IPL season. Notoriously slow starters, they have lost their first four games. Their tendency to shunt batsmen up and down the order has also manifested itself.

They have already deployed three opening batting combinations in those four games, although they have also been forced on that front to some extent by Aaron Finch's injury. Two failures for Rohit Sharma as opener have meant he dropped down to No. 4 for the next two games. Harbhajan Singh's six sixes at No. 8 against Kings XI Punjab pushed him up to No. 5 against Chennai Super Kings, ahead of Kieron Pollard and Ambati Rayudu.

Not only have they been slow starters overall again, they have also batted slowly in the first half of their innings. They were 59 for 6 against Kings XI in the 14th over, 45 for 3 against Rajasthan Royals in the 10th over, and 57 for 4 against Super Kings in the 10th over.

The spotlight has been on the batting position of Rohit and surprise moves such as Harbhajan's promotion, but it is their bowling that has consistently hurt Mumbai Indians so far this season. They must have felt it most acutely when Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum were taking them apart at Wankhede Stadium, but even in previous matches, their bowlers have done little of note.

At 9.36 runs an over, theirs has been the most expensive attack (after 12 games). They have taken 15 wickets in four matches - not even four per game. Their opponents on Friday night, Super Kings, have taken 21 in three.

On a night where 372 runs came in 36.4 overs, the Man of the Match was a fast bowler: Ashish Nehra, for his haul of 3 for 23. As Nehra said, T20 is a batsman's game, but bowlers will win you matches if they bowl good lines and lengths and keep taking wickets. If they can strike early, that can set the tone for the rest of the match.

The Mumbai Indians bowlers have just not been able to create pressure in any match. If someone occasionally has, it eventually gets frittered away at the other end. Kolkata Knight Riders chased 169 against them in 18.3 overs. Royals chased 165 in 19.1 overs. Both sides lost only three wickets each. Kings XI racked up 177 for 5 batting first. Super Kings hunted down 184 in 16.4 overs only four down.

The Mumbai Indians attack is led by the world's leading wicket-taker in T20s. Lasith Malinga has taken four wickets this season at nearly nine runs an over, compared to a career economy-rate of 6.66. The yorkers are being attempted but they are often ending up as full tosses. The bouncer does not have the old surprise and bite. There have been too many easy offerings on the pads.

Royals needed 39 from the last four overs, two of them to be bowled by Malinga. Not long ago, if you managed not to lose a wicket to Malinga in such a scenario, you had done well. If you also managed to score at a run a ball, you had done really well. Against Royals, Malinga was taken for 26 in those two overs, both wicketless. Tonight, he went for 33 in his first two. Seeing your best bowler carted around the park can be demoralizing for the rest of the attack.

If not Malinga, Mumbai Indians look up to Harbhajan. But for his 2 for 20, Kings XI could well have gone past 200. But even the senior offspinner has been successfully targeted in the two other games he has played.

While Pawan Suyal and Jagadeesha Suchith have showed potential, their inexperience has not helped. Jasprit Bumrah and Pragyan Ojha have been benched after only one expensive spell each. Corey Anderson and Pollard have barely been used.

So after their first four games, Mumbai Indians' most economical bowler has been Vinay Kumar, who has taken all of one wicket and gone for nearly eight an over.

As Rohit indicated after the Super Kings defeat, Mumbai Indians could continue to chop and change, especially with the batting order, till they start winning a few matches. They are desperate, and that is what desperate sides do. But it might amount to little as long as their bowlers, especially the best ones, don't start firing.