According to former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, the Mumbai Indians must lessen their over dependence on Jasprit Bumrah if they want to become consistent in the 2026 Indian Premier League.
After winning their tournament opener, the Mumbai Indians, who are known for being slow starters, have already lost three straight games.
At the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, the MI bowlers struggled and conceded 240 runs to RCB. MI lost by 18 runs after ending on 222/5 in their 20 overs in response, marking their third consecutive IPL 2026 loss. With just two points from four games, they fell to ninth place in the rankings.
Their biggest match-winner, pacer Bumrah, hasn’t taken a wicket in four games. According to Du Plessis, MI must look past Bumrah’s four overs and deploy their pace spearhead sparingly.
“When you look at that bowling attack, especially in high-scoring games of 250 or more, you have to assess what the rest of the attack is conceding beyond Bumrah’s four overs, which are usually very economical. That’s where Mumbai Indians need to find answers,” PTI quoted du Plessis telling Star Sports.
“They need to maximise Bumrah’s impact by using him at key stages, but it doesn’t get any easier with strong batting line-ups continuing to dominate. They will need to sit down and reassess their approach, particularly in the Powerplay, whether that involves tactical changes or bringing in different personnel.”
India batting legend Sunil Gavaskar believes the Mumbai Indians need to get better at both bowling and batting during the powerplay.
“They needed to score at least 12 runs more to stay on track with the required rate, but they couldn’t manage that. Even while rotating strike, the required rate kept climbing. That is an area they need to address.
“As Hardik Pandya mentioned, both their batting and bowling Powerplays are not yielding the kind of results needed to take control of the game,” said Gavaskar
