MI season in Jeopardy after fourth straight loss, Jayawardene flags bowling concerns

MUMBAI : Mahela Jayawardene did his best to defend his side, but deep down the Mumbai Indians coach knows the season is slipping away rapidly. Defeat to Punjab Kings was MI’s fourth on the trot, a result Jayawardene attributed to poor bowling at crucial moments. On a surface where the PBKS bowlers extracted movement with the new ball, MI were put on the back foot immediately after Deepak Chahar’s opening over went for 21 runs.

“We lost momentum at the back end while batting and then didn’t set the tone with the ball. That first over hurt us a lot,” Jayawardene said, “If we had controlled that phase, especially the first 10 overs before the dew set in and taken a few wickets, it could have been a different game.

One of the pillars of MI’s titlewinning campaigns has been their ability to dominate the Powerplay with the ball. That has deserted them this season. They conceded 78/1 against KKR, restricted Delhi Capitals to 42/2 before losing control in the middle overs, leaked 59 in a shortened Powerplay (3.2 overs) against Rajasthan Royals, gave away 71 runs to RCB and were taken for 62/2 by PBKS on Thursday.

Jasprit Bumrah, meanwhile, has gone wicketless for five matches in a row, though Jayawardene was quick to defend his spearhead. “Bumrah is bowling well. We’re just not putting pressure in the Powerplay. Batters know they don’t need to take too many risks against him. As a unit, we’ve lacked penetration across surfaces.”

He added that Bumrah has also been short on luck. “If someone else is taking wickets, Bumrah gets match-ups he’s very comfortable with. He bowled some good balls to Shreyas initially, but didn’t get rewards. Once he starts taking wickets, he could be unstoppable.”

Despite a respectable economy rate of 8.63, Bumrah’s impact has been blunted by the lack of support from the other pacers. Hardik Pandya faces a tactical dilemma in maximising Bumrah’s 24 balls. The rightarm pacer conceded just 14 runs in two Powerplay overs, but by the time he returned in the 13th, Shreyas Iyer and Prabhsimran Singh were well set, and Bumrah went for 16 on a flat deck. Pandya (ER 11.16), Trent Boult (12.22), Deepak Chahar (13.38) and Shardul Thakur (13.57) have all struggled to contain runs.

MI cautious over Rohit’s return

Given Rohit Sharma’s history of hamstring injuries, MI are taking a cautious approach. “Ro started running yesterday,” Jayawardene said. “We’ll take it day by day. It’s nothing serious, but it’s early in the season, and we don’t want to push him,” said the Sri Lankan.