No wickets for Jasprit Bumrah yet. No wickets for Trent Boult yet. Five Mumbai Indians (MI) bowlers have an economy rate of at least 12 so far.
Even in this era of T20 scores getting bigger every season, these are kinks MI would want to straighten out soon, especially after losing their last two games and moving down to eighth on the points table. Even though they return to the comforts of their home ground for their next two matches, they know better than anyone that the Wankhede Stadium, where they meet Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Sunday night, is no safe haven for bowlers.
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As their head coach Mahela Jayawardene said after their last loss, to Rajasthan Royals, MI haven’t been able to execute their new-ball plans at all. Boult, the bowler with the most first-over wickets in the IPL, has been off-colour not just in the two games he has played so far but also in all T20s this year. In nine games across the SA20 and IPL so far in 2026, Boult has collected only two powerplay wickets in 16 overs, while going at 9.62 per over.
Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur, who are typically regular wicket-takers, have not given Bumrah the support he’d like. Even though Chahar had an economical outing against Delhi Capitals, the Rajasthan Royals openers took him apart in a shortened game in Guwahati, while Thakur has continued to be the double-edged sword he usually is. He is MI’s top wicket-taker so far with a count of four, but is also their most expensive bowler with an economy rate of 12.88.
With AM Ghazanfar also going at 12 an over so far while picking up just two wickets, it’s possible that the oppositions MI have faced so far have looked to play out Bumrah with minimal damage, and have gone after the rest of the bowlers.
“When you look at T20 cricket now, the way that it’s going, you can’t really think much about wickets,” MI batting coach Kieron Pollard said of Bumrah’s wicketlessness, on Saturday. “If you watch even the game that is being played presently [Punjab Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad], the powerplay went for over 100 runs. So again, sometimes the best form of attack is also defence.
“And we’re not looking too much into the wicketless nature of Jasprit Bumrah. He’s a world-class bowler. He has done it time and time again for India and also for Mumbai Indians. And again, when the time comes to get wickets, he’ll get wickets. If not, and he’s economical, we’ll accept that as well.
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IPL – Combined MI-RCB XI – Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle, Lasith Malinga, and…
Do your favourite players make the cut in the teams selected by Dale Steyn and Aaron Finch?
“It’s fine. On our side, it’s fine. We don’t look at cricket as that. And I, as an individual, never look at cricket as that. Cricket is a team sport. So, for us, it’s about coming together as one and trying to get the desired result at the end of the day because then I can look into all different things and create things that are not there. So, for us, he’s fine, he’s fit, he’s firing. And for your sake, I hope he gets five wickets tomorrow. And the economy is about five as well (laughs).”
Bumrah has conceded runs at just eight an over so far, a comforting factor for MI, but his speeds have been unusually low. His first delivery against RR, which Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smacked for six, clocked just over 130kph, and he didn’t really pick up pace after that, seldom threatening the 140kph mark.
“Again, as it comes to the pace and the lack thereof. If the ball is going at 100 knots out of the ground, you don’t want to fight fire with fire, right?” Pollard said. “You’ve got to try something different. But, again, as I said, in all accounts, we are not concerned about Jasprit Bumrah. There’s no issues.”
Bumrah might take some confidence from the fact that he has picked up wickets regularly against MI’s next opposition, his tally of 29 being the second-best by any bowler against RCB. But the defending champions also have a power-packed line-up. On Friday, even though they slipped to 94 for 6 against RR, they made it clear they wouldn’t compromise on their attacking intent, and went on to post a 200-plus total. Until 2025, MI boasted a 10-year unbeaten record against RCB at the Wankhede, but RCB snapped that run last year when they piled on 221 for 5 at the venue last year.
How are MI’s bowlers planning now in the age of inflated T20 scores and the fearless attitude of the batters?
“The experience you have garnered over time, you tend to participate in all discussions and conversations,” Pollard said. “It’s difficult for the guys. We just try to continue to encourage them. We try to work as hard as possible on execution and understanding how we can, when the batsmen come, get them out firstly, and if not try to restrict them. When you’re on the field, it all boils down to mindset and execution. So the most you can do is sort of practice and have those sort of conversations. Practice is skill, but it’s bat versus ball on the day and who cracks first.
“So for us, we’re going to hold strong as a bowling unit. And when you look at it, on any given day, a couple of guys are going to go [for runs] in T20 cricket, but hopefully at the end we can average it out and stay within that sort of par total, which has gone up a bit in the last couple of seasons or so. So good conversations are being had, and hopefully, as I said, the fruitfulness we’ll get it on the cricket field itself.”