IPL 2025 | "We are playing good cricket, but not good enough": Mahela Jayawardene

Mahela Jayawardene. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene admitted that the batting and bowling Powerplays are still a concern for the five-time champions in IPL-18. While trying to chase 221-5, MI lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by 12 runs at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.

The Hardik Pandya-led outfit have managed only a solitary win, over Kolkata Knight Riders. After five games, MI are struggling in the eighth position on the points table.

Put into bat, RCB opener Phil Salt (4) was dismissed by MI pacer Trent Boult (2-57) in the first very over. However, thanks to opener Virat Kohli (42-ball 67) and one-drop Devdutt Padikkal (22-ball 37), RCB were 73-1 after six overs. On the other hand, MI made just 54 and lost both their openers Rohit Sharma (9-ball 17) and Ryan Rickelton (10-ball 17) by the fourth over. They were 54-2 after the opening Powerplay.

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"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 and we are not getting the starts [with the bat] and losing wickets," Jayawardene said at the post-match press conference on Monday.

The former Sri Lankan skipper explained: "We got an early wicket today [Monday] as well and then they [RCB] counterpunched, played good shots and we didn't react well to that. These are the margins. And then, they had the big sixth over [by Deepak Chahar], which really hurt us. We didn't close the Powerplay properly. With the bat as well, I thought we had a good start, but couldn't continue.

"So, the margins are small in this competition and we are not hitting our strides and that's a concern. We are playing good cricket, but not good enough."

Jayawardene seemed pleased with the team's ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah's (4-0-29-0) comeback after recovering from a back injury. Bumrah played his first game since the Sydney Test against Australia in January. "I just spoke to him [Bumrah] after the game and he looks in good nick. He's disappointed [at losing] as well. He wanted a win when he came back, but other than that, he looks fine. I think the pace was up, the execution was good," said Jayawardene.