Five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 champions Mumbai Indians (MI) are going through their worst season. Despite a spirited comeback on April 21, MI were denied their first win of the season by finisher MS Dhoni, who hit 16 runs off last four deliveries to get Chennai Super Kings (CSK) over the line. After seven consecutive losses, former MI opener Chris Lynn feels that there is much tension in the dressing room and players are starting to break into “little groups”.
When you are down at the bottom of the table, guys like your captain, but also Kieron Pollard - he will be normally running in from deep mid-on or mid-off, helping out, calming him down," Lynn told ESPNcricinfo. "We haven't seen that with Mumbai yet because they are starting to sort of break off into little groups and they just want to get off the field. And it's not a great sign. And I think the change room right now wouldn't be a great place to be in."
Lynn talked about his two-year stint with MI and shared the dressing room conversations that happened between the players. The destructive Australian batter was part of the MI squad for two seasons. In 2020, he did not get a single game when MI won the title for the fifth time.
"Flip side of that, when they won the tournament two years ago, there were conversations happening all the time - how can we get better, how can we get out of the over. All those little organic conversations were happening without coaching staff telling them to do that because blokes were up and about wanting to win. So we are not seeing that, we are seeing the complete opposite: it seems like instead of a team of 11, there's 11 individuals out there,” he further added.
Lynn made his debut for MI in previous season and scored 49 runs. Despite a decent innings against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), he did not get a chance for the rest of the reason.
With seven losses, MI are placed at the bottom of the table. It will take a miraculous effort from MI players to win the rest of the matches and keep their playoffs hopes alive. However, even then they will be dependent on other matches’ results. The Rohit Sharma-led side faces Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 24. IF MI lose against KKR, they will be out of the playoffs race.