Former Indian cricketer and head coach Ravi Shastri on Sunday (April 10) said Mumbai Indians (MI) and defending IPL champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have lost their aura.
MI and CSK are the two most successful teams in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), having won the championship title 5 times and 4 times respectively. But the 15th edition of the IPL has seen two of the most decorated teams struggle to register their first win. MI and CSK have both suffered fourth consecutive defeats in as many matches.
The Mumbai Indians recently lost by 7 wickets to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), and the Super Kings, led by the newly appointed skipper Ravindra Jadeja, lost to the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 8 wickets.
Ravi Shastri, speaking on Star Sports, stated that the oppositions have outplayed both teams.
“What’s disappointing from both those teams is that they’ve been outplayed, you know by a couple of teams. I’ve kept saying it one week into the IPL, that intimidatory factor that was there with Chennai and Mumbai, no longer it's there, no team is afraid of them. Their aura. No one is afraid of them because of the spread out in the auction.”
“They’ve got their back to the wall, they have to step up to the plate. It’s no point telling the other guys this is the way you should play, you should be doing that job. And it’s not gonna be easy. If you lose 4 on the trot, you mentioned 10 left, not easy at all.”
Ravi also addressed the fact that all of the other teams' mindsets have shifted, and they now believe they can beat the four-time and five-time champions.
“Other teams believe they can beat them. They don’t look at the name Chennai Super Kings or Mumbai Indians. They’ll go and play the game, they’ll believe they can beat that opposition. As opposed to yes, the years have gone by where they had that aura, that presence, that would intimidate sides. So even if the side had a chance, somehow or the other they would panic, just when they had to cross the finishing line. But this IPL, you won’t see that.”
(INDIA TODAY INPUTS)
