By yadanarbon 
Man, this week I got totally sucked into cricket history after rewatching IPL 2012 highlights. Felt like digging into how Mumbai captains shaped that wild tournament, especially with Harbhajan Singh passing the captaincy mid-season. Crazy story! Just started scribbling notes on my coffee-stained notepad, aiming to figure out what truly worked.
Started Simple With Google
Typed “IPL 2012 Mumbai Indians captain” right into my browser. Boom – Sachin Tendulkar led initially, then got hurt. Reports claimed Harbhajan Singh took over. Okay, names sorted? Not even close. Needed way more meat. Searched old articles, forums, anything not buried too deep. Clicked through like 15 pages – felt like mining coal in my PJs.
Hit The News Archive Wall
Finding live match reports from 2012? Brutal. Site archives were broken half the time. Tried cricket sites, news portals, even sketchy blogs. Finally hit gold in ESPNcricinfo’s match summaries. Found that crucial Qualifier 2 loss against CSK – Harbhajan’s decisions under serious fire. Folks online blasted his bowling changes and field placements late in the game. Real pressure cooker stuff.
Making Sense of The Chaos
Saw several points where his moves really shifted Mumbai’s campaign:
- Sticking with misfiring Pollard: Kept playing him despite trash form early on. Pollard eventually smashed 60 off 32 vs CSK later though!
- Johnson over Malinga? Seriously? Used him in the death overs against Royal Challengers. Virat Kohli demolished 35 runs in the over! Pure carnage.
- That weird Robin Peterson choice: Final against KKR. Peterson bowled the 15th over while Narine waited? Fans & experts roasted it post-match.
Filled pages comparing these calls against win-loss impacts. Honestly, some looked brilliant on paper yet imploded live.
Trying To Correlate Decisions With Results
This bit dragged hard. Opened spreadsheets late one night trying to map key decisions to match outcomes. Coffee turned cold. Noticed patterns:
- When Harbhajan trusted middle-order batters like Rayudu, they often stabilized chases
- Early tournament bowling shuffles sank them vs weak teams
- Harsher critics argued top-order talent (like Sachin) saved him from bigger blunders
Hard proving causation though. Stats only show so much without locker room context.
Typing It Up & Realizing Limits
Started drafting on my piece-of-crap phone because my laptop died. Autocorrect mangled “Harbhajan” into “Harbor jam” twice. Nearly screamed. But pushing through, I saw the bigger picture: his decisions created volatility. Aggressive? Yes. Consistent? Not a chance. Made for dramatic cricket though – tension that defined that whole chaotic season.
Ended my notes feeling mixed. You can’t ignore those tactical errors in crunch moments. Yet Mumbai clawed into playoffs under him after Sachin’s exit. Leadership ain’t always pretty stats; sometimes it’s raw fight. Might revisit his 2013 captaincy next…after I buy coffee.
