'A lot of ifs and buts' but Jayawardene accepts MI 'haven't been good enough'

"I would have loved to have our main core guys consistently being out there," Mahela Jayawardene says after MI were eliminated from the playoffs race at IPL 2026

Shashank Kishore

Published: May 11, 2026, 2:58 AM (4 hrs ago)

1:31

Wrong call to bowl Bawa in the final over?

Sunday's defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) has made one thing certain for Mumbai Indians (MI): the five-time champions will not win the IPL this time, the sixth straight season that they have fallen short. MI now have three games to avoid a last-place finish - they have twice since 2021 - in IPL 2026.

Head coach Mahela Jayawardene was gracious in defeat, praising Krunal Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar for their composure and skill under pressure. While he didn't dodge the difficult questions around his team's shortcomings, Jayawardene's frustration was palpable. But he reckoned the disappointment was still too fresh for a clear assessment.

"Yeah, I mean, the season, it's disappointing," he said after the two-wicket loss to RCB, their eighth in 11 matches. "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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"We were probably two-three wins away from being in the same group of contenders to get into that playoff. But we didn't get those wins and today was another classic example that we were short. So, it's difficult for me to sum up a season right now. I have to give it some thought as well and then figure out exactly [what has gone wrong]. But, yeah, I mean, we were not good enough with our skills and execution this season."

MI did have their chances. But they gambled by throwing the ball for the last over to rookie allrounder Raj Angad Bawa, who was bowling for the first time in his four-year IPL career. He began with a wide and a no-ball, and although he dismissed Romario Shepherd off the third ball to spark hopes of a win, he followed that up with a wide, before being scythed for six by Bhuvneshwar to tilt the scales RCB's way.

"All our bowlers were finished at that time, we didn't have anyone left, any experienced bowler," Jayawardene explained of their decision to bowl Bawa. "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. I thought he bowled well to Shepherd, got the wicket as well, bowled those lines.

"Yeah, I mean, couple of wides, no-ball, it's under pressure for him as well, so we had to look at it. But I think I was pleased the way we fought. And yeah, I mean, it was a game of margins, we probably should have executed a bit better at the end."

"We went with the trust, the confidence that we had with them. And then it is what it is. Like I said, it's difficult for me to go beyond that. They had a really good World Cup, winning it and all that. So I think it's just that as a unit, we haven't been good enough"

Mahela Jayawardene on the poor seasons Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya have had

The uneven nature of the Raipur surface was thrown up as one possible reason for MI's loss. They ended up making 166, which Jayawardene agreed wasn't enough, but he wasn't going to use the unpredictability of the surface as an excuse.

"Well, I thought it was a good wicket," he said with a wry smile. "I mean, the bowlers would have enjoyed it. The wickets have been pretty decent and the bowlers have been getting the brunt of it. It was a good sporting wicket, I thought. And it was a good challenge for the players on both sides, the wicket had a bit for the fast bowlers. The spinners had a bit of purchase. And batters were able to score runs if they played properly."

Jayawardene credited RCB's bowlers for executing well in the death overs, off which MI managed just 30. The wicket of Naman Dhir, the top-scorer with 47, in the 13th over hurt them in particular, just when his partnership with Tilak Varma looked to set them up for a bigger total than what they got to.

"We knew 170-180 was a good score. And we were heading towards that. And we lost again another couple of wickets in that 14-15 mark," Jayawardene said. "Naman getting out. And then Jacks getting out as well just before the timeout. So those were a couple of unforced mistakes during that time. That would have given us an extra 15-20 runs [if not for those wickets]. So, yeah, a lot of ifs and buts. But that's not good enough."

On reflection, Jayawardene would have loved to have their "core guys consistently out there". That is something they couldn't do. Rohit Sharma picked up a hamstring injury at the start of the tournament that forced him out for six games, while Hardik Pandya's back spasms towards the business end left them scrambling for team balance. In between, they also lost Mitchell Santner to a shoulder injury.

"I don't think it was chopping and changing," he said when asked about the team composition. "What you guys probably didn't know is that we had a lot of injuries, a lot of niggles, players getting injured, and some players were not available. So, those were mostly forced changes.

"Tactically, we would have made very few [changes] during the season. I would have loved to have our main core guys consistently being out there. But there's no excuses. I think we had a quality squad. It's just that, like I said, we had to put our hand up and say that we were not good enough overall. But the season is still on and we're still playing some good cricket. We just need to continue to do that."

When asked if it was becoming harder to keep backing underperforming senior players - notably Suryakumar and Hardik, who have both endured lean IPL seasons since the T20 World Cup triumph - Jayawardene was firm in his stance. For the record, Suryakumar, who was out for a first-ball duck on Sunday, has scored just 195 runs in 11 innings and Hardik has hit 146 runs in eight innings along with four wickets at nearly 12 an over.

"No, I don't think it is," Jayawardene said. "They're also trying to do their best. If I knew that it was something to do with that, I would have spoken to them. But the commitment, the effort that they're putting in is unbelievable. So I was quite determined. With Ro getting injured and coming back and batting the way he batted, it sums up. I mean, the core group is quite valuable for us. You can't just keep changing.

"We went with the trust, the confidence that we had with them. And then it is what it is. Like I said, it's difficult for me to go beyond that. They had a really good World Cup, winning it and all that. So I think it's just that as a unit, we haven't been good enough."

Shashank Kishore is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo

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