"He is the greatest player, but not a captain"

After a month of IPL, everyone felt that the Mumbai Indians would dominate the remainder and go on to lift the trophy. The team owners, players, fans, management and supporting staff were all satisfied, probably not realising that they might have peaked a bit too early. Sachin Tendulkar captaining his troops had a brilliant team in front of him, like having a "Royal Flush" (poker). The likes of himself, slinga, pollard , bhajji, rayudu being retained and further enforcements in the form of Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds and James Franklin. This was a destructive team on paper and they inscribed that on the cricket field.  At times, Sachin Tendulkar's captaincy lacked an idea, but when the team was winning, no one probed into it. As the tournament progressed into its last segment, complacency crept into the team, taking their position for granted, they found themselves at the brink of the top four. It was important for the captain himself to show some positivity on the field and uplift the morale. When they were on the other side of winning, the body language of the captain, in particular was found wanting. 

It started showing on the performance and it looked to me like, the Mumbai Indians team were very dependent on Sachin's performance. Certain decisions taken by the team was very surprising, not playing Andrew symonds was a shocker. I understand that he has not engaged in any cricket but over time he is a true match winner. Probably looking at the opening partner for Sachin, symo could have filled that spot as the others were not consistent enough.

 In the semi-final game of the IPL, when Mumbai Indians won the toss, it was a shocker that they chose to bowl. Sachin has played some brilliant knocks on that ground; he knows that ground as well as anybody else. Moreover, the record at the chepauk  conceals that the team batting first go on to win the game. The decision to bowl Abu nechim to gayle turned out to be a game changer for the challengers. He missed a trick there. Gayle is a shaky starter and getting him out early is a massive moment. Perhaps, there lied a difference between MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar. MS Dhoni used his ace ( R.Ashwin) to gayle and he picked him to seal the fate of the game. Sachin Tendulkar certainly should have started with Malinga. In Sachin's captaincy, there lacked calmness, he looked very fidgety with his actions and generally such emotions rubbed on to the others of the team.
 In the end, it looked a blunder and in most likelihood thats what cost them the tournament.In hindsight, the Mumbai Indians will be disappointed with their performance.