Mumbai Indians out of IPL playoffs: What went wrong with the mighty MI?

In 11 innings so far, he has claimed only three wickets, at an economy of 8.51 and best figures of 1/15. The star pacer did not take a single wicket in the first five matches, setting the tone for the team for the rest of the season.

3. MI's execution collapsed under pressure

Perhaps no moment better summarised MI's season than the final over in Raipur. With RCB needing 15 runs to win, Suryakumar turned to Raj Angad Bawa, a rookie all-rounder bowling for the first time in his four-year IPL career.

The over produced a wide, a no-ball, a wicket, another wide, and then a Bhuvneshwar Kumar six that ended the match. And again Jayawardene defended by explaining that all experienced bowling options had been exhausted at that point, with only the two spinners and Bawa remaining.

"All our bowlers were finished at that time, we didn't have anyone left, any experienced bowler," Jayawardene explained.

"We had couple of spinners [Will Jacks and AM Ghazanfar]; one was Raghu Sharma who hadn't bowled. The other one option probably would have been Allah [Ghazanfar]. Allah also went for runs. I think Suryakumar [Yadav] backed [Bawa]. Raj is a decent bowler. We know what he can do in practice, executing yorkers, the wide stuff and all that. So this is the situation that we thought he should be able to."

4. Leadership vacuum

Since the captaincy changed hands from Rohit to Hardik, Mumbai Indians have been a shadow of the side they once were. Dressing rooms are sensitive environments, and especially ones filled with so many budding cricketers, are always volatile.

The uncertainty at the top travels downward quickly. This current MI side has too often looked fractured, and they were a far cry from the team that once squeezed opponents psychologically in close finishes.

5. Lacked tactical decisiveness

Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ryan Rickelton, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and Hardik Pandya would represent a generational squad at any other franchise.

Most teams would restructure their entire auction strategy around acquiring two or three of those names. MI had all of them and still finished outside the top four.

The reason is that cricket is not won on reputation. It is won on tactics, execution and collective calm. The old Mumbai Indians understood tempo. The senior India unit failed to deliver the goods.

The erstwhile batting order had poise, and the bowling line-up knew its job well. This edition had names but not certainty, and in a competition decided by margins, that difference proved fatal.

"Yeah, I mean, the season, it's disappointing," Jayawardene said. "We've had our opportunities. We were not good enough. We were not consistent enough with the ball, with the bat, and that showed the margins."

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