Rest is best for Mumbai Indians?

Despite being winless in the Champions League, Mumbai Indians' seniors stay away from practice

When the going gets tough, the tough get going is an old adage. It should apply in the case of the Mumbai Indians, who have been found wanting for a second time in two years while playing on South African surfaces.


OOPS! Mumbai Indians' Kieron Pollard ducks a short ball from
South Australian Redbacks' Shaun Tait at Durban on Tuesday.
PIC/AFP

They are certainly finding the going tough in their Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa like they did when the Indian Premier League was played here in 2009.

In the IPL the Mumbai Indians failed to make the semi-final stage of the competition and this time they are unlikely to advance in the Champions League Twenty20 as well.

Yet there's nothing being done to rectify the situation they currently find themselves in.

Having lost two on the trot - the first to the Highveld Lions at the Wanderers and then to the South Australian Redbacks at Kingsmeadu00a0 - and rooted to the bottom of Group B table, one would have thought that the Mumbai Indians would have come out in full force to start rectifying matters.

Practice makes perfect as the saying goes. But all the senior players decided to stay away from practice, giving an indication that they are resigned to go home early as even two wins from their remaining games against Guyana today and the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday -- both at Kingsmead -- will not make any difference to their already tattered campaign.

There was no sign of either Sachin Tendulkar or Zaheer Khan nor Kieron Pollard or even JP Duminy, who is desperately short on form but there were a host of young unknowns trying to hone their skills at the nets at Kingsmead.

And there was a terse "no press conference today" statement from the team management at practice for the young players. But there's a game between the Mumbai Indians and Guyana at Kingsmead today.

While the Mumbai Indians took an indifferent attitude ahead of today's game, Guyana, who are also without a win in the tournament, worked out to at least fine tune their skills.

Strong on paper
It will be a test for them against the strong-on-paper-Mumbai Indians but one can never predict an outcome in a Twenty20 bash which can sway from one end of the pendulum in a matter of seconds.

The Mumbai Indians have nothing left in the Champions League Twenty20 but their pride to play for and if they do not win today it will be time for them to contact their travel consultant for an early trip back to Mumbai.