IPL 2026: Why Has Jasprit Bumrah Struggled? MI Head Coach Mahela Jayawardene Explains

The Mumbai Indians (MI) have endured a remarkably difficult campaign in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Despite entering the tournament with high hopes and a star-studded lineup, the five-time champions have struggled to find any consistent rhythm and have already been officially knocked out of the tournament.

With their playoff dreams shattered, Mumbai will simply be playing for pride when they face the Rajasthan Royals on May 22 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Reflecting their dismal on-field performances, the Mumbai Indians are currently languishing near the bottom of the standings. MI is placed ninth in the points table with just eight points to their name. They have managed to win only four of their 13 matches this season, suffering from a poor net run rate of -0.510.

A major factor contributing to Mumbai's struggles this year has been the inability of their lead pacer, Jasprit Bumrah, to hit top form. Widely regarded as the premier fast bowler in world cricket, Bumrah has managed to claim just four wickets across 13 matches in the ongoing season. Interestingly, despite his lack of wickets, he has not been overly expensive; Bumrah still boasts the best economy rate among all Mumbai Indians bowlers, conceding runs at an economy of 8.36.

Mahela Jayawardene Explains the Underlying Issues

Addressing the media in a pre-match press conference, Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene provided a detailed explanation for his star pacer's struggles. According to the coach, Bumrah's form is a result of a lingering niggle and the time required to regain his rhythm after returning from injury.

"Yeah, I think it's a combination of a few things. Coming back from the World Cup as well, he had a slight niggle which he played with through the tournament, so we gave him adequate rest after he returned," Jayawardene explained. "The first four or five games were a gradual build-up for him to recover fully, and you could see the pace was slightly down because of that."

Jayawardene noted that while Bumrah's pace has returned, the recovery process affected his precision. "Now he's back to his full pace. In the last four or five games, he's been good. But when you go through something like that, you do lose a bit of sharpness in execution because you're managing something else alongside," he added.

Beyond physical recovery, Jayawardene highlighted a major tactical issue: opposition batters are simply refusing to take risks against Bumrah because the rest of the MI bowling attack has failed to apply adequate pressure.
"Health-wise, he's 100 percent. Unfortunately, the season is over for us. I also think teams haven't taken too many risks against him in certain situations, they've played him out because we haven't been able to create enough pressure around him," the head coach noted.

"The bowlers haven't been able to build that pressure the way we needed to, so tactically teams have approached him differently," the Sri Lankan concluded.