Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard stated on Saturday that the team will continue to take a flexible approach with Indian batter Tilak Varma and that Jasprit Bumrah’s wicketless streak in the current Indian Premier League is not a concern.
The Mumbai Indians will play Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Mumbai on Sunday in an attempt to end their losing streak after suffering two straight losses following a successful start to the 2026 IPL.
“Sometimes the best form of attack is also defence. We’re not looking too much into the wicketless nature of Jasprit Bumrah,” PTI quoted Pollard telling reporters in Mumbai ahead of MI’s training session on Saturday.
Pollard was asked why Bumrah lacked pace when Rajasthan Royals openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi went hard against MI bowlers.
“If the ball is going at 100 knots out of the ground, you don’t want to fight fire with fire, right? You want to try something different,” he replied.
“In our camp, we are not concerned about Jasprit Bumrah. There’s no issues. You guys go into the intricacies of data and pace and wickets and all of that. We don’t look at cricket like that,” Pollard added.
Will Jacks’ delayed arrival was dismissed by Pollard, who stated that the England all-rounder is anticipated to join the team shortly.
“We are expecting him very soon. As you alluded to fitness issues, to my knowledge, I don’t know anything about that,” he said, adding that Mitchell Santner has trained well in the lead-up to this contest.
When questioned if Tilak’s inconsistent batting position would be the reason for his lack of runs, Pollard responded that players will need to be adaptable in the batting lineup.
“Everyone is flexible so you’re not going to limit one particular number in terms of where they bat. I think everything has to be what the team requires at that particular time because then we can argue the fact as well that Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) has batted (at No.) three for us and India and done well, so we don’t need to get into positions but what is required at that point in time,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pollard warned against a lack of support for 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi when bowlers eventually start to figure him out.
“At 15 years I was still at school playing club cricket and not even sure of having a career. But it’s very exciting to see a young guy taking the world by storm,” he said when asked about the RR batter.
“One of the things I always say is let’s not be on the bandwagon if you have a couple of failures and guys sort of figure him out, we then just trim (him) at the wayside and forget all about it.” “I think that’s the biggest fear for me as an individual being a cricketer that we all run with the hype and then when something happens…,” Pollard added.
Pollard praised RCB’s Virat Kohli and veteran Rohit Sharma, who spent 15 years with the Mumbai Indians, but noted that the match on Sunday is between two sides.
“It’s a great honour, privilege and achievement for him or any individual to be in one franchise for 15 years. Not many people can say that. Luckily enough, I can say that,” Pollard said.
“Everyone has different motivations in playing for a long period of time. Imran Tahir playing somewhere in the world and he’s about 46 or 47. (MS) Dhoni is still playing at 44. Fortunately, I’m still playing around the world at 39. So again, different things motivate individuals to continue playing.
“These guys have done well for cricket overall but we tend to just look at the age and they need to do this and they need to do that. I believe we should continue to honour these guys who have put smiles on our faces over a period of time and let them decide when it’s time.”
