Head coach Mahela Jayawardene insisted that there are no “unwanted stories” associated with India’s T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav playing as an Impact Player in the Mumbai Indians’ IPL 2026 first game against Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday because of a niggle.
Before taking Jasprit Bumrah’s place in the 12th over of the run case, Suryakumar did not field for MI in their opening game of the season. Before being caught at deep midwicket by bowler Kartik Tyagi during a brief spell in the middle, he scored 16 runs from 8 balls.
Mumbai Indians achieved their most successful run chase in IPL history by crushing KKR by six wickets.
“I hope we don’t create unwanted stories (here), the camp is happy. He had an extra couple of days (off that) he wanted,” Jayawardene responded to reporters when asked why Suryakumar was used as an impact substitute last season, similar to former India and MI captain Rohit Sharma.
“He had a little tight groin and he was doing fielding and all that. But I knew I had another five days from this game to the other. I just wanted to give him that extra bit of time. He was even keen at the end to go (and field) for three-four overs. But I said, no, (it’s) just fine’.”
“So please don’t create any stories. It’s just that I have to take precautions. These are very valuable players for me to have them going throughout the season. These are calculated decisions that I and the management make and there is nothing beyond that,” Jayawardene said.
Jayawardene was happy that the Mumbai Indians had finally broken their IPL opening-round losing streak. After Shardul Thakur (3/39) made an impression on a submissive wicket, Rohit (78) and Ryan Rickelton (81) put on a 148-run opening partnership in the pursuit of 221.
“Yeah, it is brilliant. It was a good (batting) wicket. When they got to 220, I thought we were a bit poor on execution. We could have probably (not given) 20 runs extra. But the way Ro (Rohit) and Ryan batted, it was exquisite to watch,” Jayawardene said.
“It was, again, tactical, because for us to use Allah (AM Ghazanfar), if you’re using Hardik (Pandya) as well up front, then can’t have too many new ball bowlers,” the former Sri Lankan skipper said on Thakur’s exploits.
“I needed some options in the middle and then at the back end and that was the thinking when we traded Shardul. It was an example of us thinking differently with our bowling combinations to suit different opposition and how we want to go about it,” he added.
According to Jayawardene, Rohit is relishing this stage of not having to take on leadership responsibilities.
“He came from the first day of the camp. He was very focused. He was fresh. I think after so many years, I’ve had him from day one of the camp. He played some really good matches practice games. We had a lot of simulations for him, especially to get him going,” Jayawardene said.
“It has freed him up. He is thinking much calmer. He is not the leader (so there is) less pressure on him. This happens; it happened to me as well in my last few years when I went and played franchise cricket.”
“You practice less, but your muscle memory works and you just go with the flow. You know what the bowlers are trying to do and once you are in that mode, you have that freedom which we noticed in Ro in the last couple of years.”
