New Delhi: Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene insisted their poor form in IPL 2026 shouldn’t be blamed on the struggles of senior batter Suryakumar Yadav or bluntness of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
Rather a collective failure has led to them losing seven of their last nine matches to be ninth among 10 teams in the standings.
Suryakumar recently led India to a T20 World Cup triumph but has endured a prolonged dry patch of form with the bat, managing only 183 runs in nine innings with only one fifty in the ongoing edition.
The middle-order batter has struggled to negotiate length deliveries towards his body but Jayawardene believes that Surya has been unfortunate that most of his well-timed shots have landed in the hands of fielders in the boundary line.
“If he (Surya) gets a few scores together, I think he will find that rhythm. I think sometimes when things are not going your way, it doesn’t fall in place,” Jayawardene said.
“I think it was a pretty good shot (his dismissal off Ramakrishna Ghosh) that went straight to the fielder. I mean it’s one of those things I mean I played enough cricket to understand.
“He’s definitely up for it, he’s in a good space. It’s just that it hasn’t worked like the amount of times he’s got caught on the the boundary this season. Even in the last game or the one before that the flick where he got caught so it’s just a matter of time,” the former Sri Lankan skipper.
“I think he himself is disappointed but just have to keep on working harder.”
Support needed for Bumrah
Bumrah has not been able to pick wickets at his usual frequency and has also been hit by batters of different teams, which Jayawardene attributed lack of support from the team’s fellow bowlers.
“I mean when everyone’s working together you are picking up wickets here and there that helps Bumrah to be a bit more aggressive as well rather than doing a holding job,” Jayawardene said.
“Like I said. Everyone tend to have a slow season but the class is always going to be permanent. I mean he (Bumrah) bowled brilliantly today but it was unfortunate he could have probably taken a few more wickets. He did go all out.”
“Every cricketer at different stages will keep on pushing themselves that’s what great cricketers do and it’s just a phase for him he had a long season work-up and and this back-to-back matches as well so we have to take all that into account,” he concluded.
