Sustained batting failures underscore MINY's botched title defence

Defending champions MI New York crashed out of MLC 2024 after yet another clumsy day on the field. Last season's winners had been fortunate to just about scrap through to the playoffs but the team remained on the edge right throughout the tournament. Nicholas Pooran and Trent Boult topped the batting and bowling charts respectively last season, but their inconsistency this year meant MINY found it tough to make up for the domestic frailties in their side.

MINY were one of the only few sides in the tournament to 'empower' their domestic batting talent by routinely featuring them in the top 3. While it was a bold call, they lacked the gumption to stick to a set plan. In a game of trial and error, MINY used five different opening batting pairs in seven games this season. But the likes of Ruben Clinton, Steven Taylor and Shayan Jahangir failed to seize the initiative of their gametime at the top of the order. Clinton, who was MINY's first draft pick this year, endured a horrid run with less than 50 runs in 5 innings. Jahangir, who was reasonably impressive last year with a couple of gutsy knocks, failed to show a similar spark, averaging under 10 in 4 innings.

About 12 months back Taylor was entrusted as MINY's first ever draft pick, but his stocks have plummeted ever since. MINY featured him thrice this season but the 31-year-old could only muster up 18 runs in two innings.

"You can't sit and blame the domestic players. I think as a whole internationals included we weren't consistent enough. By their own admission our players will be disappointed that they couldn't at least make the final of this competition. Yeah, it was a season where we showed some glimpses, we could never tie all the skills together in one game, unfortunately," MINY coach Robin Peterson said.

Monank Patel blew hot and cold this season. The USA captain, coming off a shoulder injury that saw him miss the best part of USA's World Cup campaign was quickly demoted off the opening slot after a couple of failures in MINY's first two games in Morrisville. Monank notched his first half century of his MLC career against TSK in MINY's Dallas leg. But that didn't lead to a run of strong scores. He went through three more frustrating games before a resolute 48 off 41 against TSK again.

"You have to be adaptable to any cricket. I think Monank has shown that in the middle of today. He's got his two 50s across two seasons coming in the middle order. So he's a type of player that can knock it around and use his experience, and leadership. So we thought that responsibility would fall on the shoulders with the skill set he possessed," Peterson said.

"Every now and then he moved down the order but that's just in game strategy that you're trying to counter the opposition instead of sending in more of a power player. So, not a reflection towards the skill set, but he played very well in the middle order and maybe something he should consider going forward in his career."

Pooran largely held the MINY batting together with fiery cameos as the domestics failed to fire but the West Indies star couldn't emulate his heroics from the inaugural season, managing a single half century in seven innings. MINY constantly wrestled with Kieron Pollard's indifferent form. The Trinidadian concluded the tournament with a strike rate of 98, at total dissonance with his role in the side.

Dewald Brevis' cricketing adolescence carried on with the Proteas batter still awaiting a breakthrough season in MI colours. Brevis' 85 runs in 4 innings at the top of the order was a far cry from the franchise's expectations in his third year with the franchise.

"We are disappointed with the [campaign] but love the learnings that have taken place the last two years, I'd say, we'd love to win every competition, but sometimes, you know, these events, they don't allow you to slip up, you know, when we'll have to come back stronger next year," Peterson summed up.