Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mahela Jayawardene acknowledges that the powerplay - both with bat and ball - is a concern for the team. MI went down by 12 runs to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Monday, their fourth defeat in five outings in IPL 2025, and Jayawardene wants the five-time champions to be "ruthless" and not "lose discipline" before it's too late.
"The powerplay is a concern for us with the ball and the bat. In the last few games as well, we were leaking too many runs with the ball in the powerplay as well," Jayawardene said after the match. "We got an early wicket today as well - first over - but then they counter-punched, played some good shots, and we just did not react well to that. These are the margins and then they had a big sixth over, which really hurt us in that powerplay."
With an economy of 10.36, MI have been the most expensive bowling unit in the first six overs this season. They have only managed to pick up six wickets in the phase. On Monday, Trent Boult struck in the first over for the 31st time in the IPL. But Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal took RCB to 73 for 1 in the powerplay, thanks mainly to a 20-run over from Deepak Chahar to end the phase. It was the second-highest powerplay score against MI at the Wankhede and the fourth-highest overall against them in the IPL.
Then, in their chase of 222, MI lost two wickets in four overs and ended the powerplay on 54 for 2. In this IPL, they have lost ten wickets in the first six overs, second only to the 12 for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
"With the bat as well, I thought we had a good start but just couldn't continue," Jayawardene said. "We lost those two wickets and then we had to consolidate a little bit and lost a bit of momentum there. We had a few big overs in between but we just weren't in the game in that first ten overs. The margins are small in this competition and we're not hitting our strides and that is a concern."
MI are placed eighth on the ten-team points table with just a sole win - against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at home. Despite that, Jayawardene said they were "playing some good cricket" and ruled out the need to make changes in their personnel.
"I still back the senior pros and all the guys I put out there. They have the skill. It's just that we need to be a bit more ruthless," he said. "At times, we're missing out on those one or two overs where we lose our discipline. So that's with the bat as well as with the ball. That's something that we need to rectify.
"Losing is not a great thing. You start doubting yourself. And sometimes a fresh face coming into this kind of situation… might be even tougher for that player as well without the experience. The guys who have the experience know to handle tough situations and be mentally stronger going forward. So that's something that we will bank on and make sure that we really focus on getting the group together and be positive and play the next game."
MI found themselves 99 for 4 in 12 overs in their tall chase with ESPNcricinfo's win predictor giving them only a 2.26% chance at that stage. But captain Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma added 89 in just 34 balls to give RCB an almighty scare. Hardik instilled momentum in the chase, hitting Josh Hazlewood for two sixes and two fours. He then struck Krunal Pandya for back-to-back sixes and raced to 32 off 7.
"Most of the guys are match-winners. It's just that we are not getting that tempo going consistently," Jayawardene said. "Once you hit that 10th-12th over mark, we knew we could give ourselves a chance. When Hardik walked into bat, that was the conversation I had with him. I said, 'try and see if you can get three big overs in'. That's what he delivered. Then the momentum changed. Tilak started going as well.
"We were close, but not good enough. Obviously, the emotions were great for a while. But we had to be realistic that we are not playing the best cricket that we could play."
Jayawardene 'wouldn't read too much' into Rohit's dismissal
Jayawardene dismissed concerns around former captain Rohit Sharma and backed him after yet another low score. Rohit scored a nine-ball 17 hitting two fours and a six before he was clean bowled by an inswinger from Yash Dayal.
"For right-handed batsmen, left-armers [dismissal] is a natural thing," Jayawardene said. "It's been there for many years. I can remember Vaasy [Chaminda Vaas] doing the same thing for many teams, Wasim Akram doing the same thing, so it's just a natural angle. I'm sure Rohit's been working on it, he's been practising hard and he's a very experienced player."
Rohit has now been dismissed 22 times inside the powerplay since the start of IPL 2023, the most for any batter. Among those who have faced at least 180 deliveries in the first six overs since the start of last season, no one has a worse average than Rohit's 27.90. While he struck at 130.72 in 2023, his strike rate shot up to 151.97 in the powerplay last season, indicating that he has tried to attack more, something Jayawardene acknowledged.
"He was trying to give us a good start and he played some really good shots," he said. "[Dayal] actually bowled a good ball. It was late-swing and fuller, got through Rohit's defence. When you have played the game for that long, you need to sometimes give credit to the bowlers as well. I wouldn't read into that too much, but yeah, it's something that I'm sure Rohit will work hard on."