Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene revealed on May 23, 2026, that a lingering physical injury and tactical adjustments by opposing teams contributed to Jasprit Bumrah's least productive Indian Premier League season.
According to statistics from espncricinfo.
com, Bumrah managed only four wickets across 13 matches, yielding his highest career tournament average of 102.50 despite maintaining an economy rate of 8.36.
The fast bowler entered the tournament carrying a physical niggle after recording 14 wickets in eight games during the preceding T20 World Cup.
This initially reduced his delivery speeds during the first half of the domestic campaign.
Jayawardene noted that Bumrah required a gradual period of physical rehabilitation to regain his standard pace during the opening month of the schedule.
"I think coming back from the World Cup as well he had a slight niggle which he played with through the World Cup," Jayawardene said.
"So, we gave him adequate rest to come back.
The first four-five games, it was a gradual build-up for him to get over that niggle he had.
So, you could see the pace… dropped because of that."
The coaching staff observed that Bumrah regained his optimal velocity during the final five fixtures of the season, though the physical limitations disrupted his mechanical precision.
"And now he's back to his pace. The last four-five games have been good.
But obviously, when you're going through something like that, you do lose a little bit of sharpness of execution and all that because you're fighting something else.
But I think health-wise, he's 100% - [just] unfortunate this season is over for us," Jayawardene added.
Tactical Adjustments by Opponents
Opposing batting lineups altered their scoring strategies by minimizing risks against Bumrah, capitalizing on a lack of complementary defensive pressure from the remaining Mumbai bowling unit.
"I think the teams have not taken too much risk against him in certain situations.
They played him out because we haven't been able to create pressure around him as well, in the sense that other bowlers haven't been able to create that pressure that we needed to.
So, tactically, the teams have played him differently. So I can't say it's just one thing, there was a combination of quite a few things.
But I wouldn't worry about Booms. I think he's in good spirit, and he will come back strong," Jayawardene said.
Statistical tracking revealed that Bumrah delivered 82 slower balls at an economy rate of 8.27 and 31 yorkers at an economy rate of 3.6 without securing a dismissal, while conceding 43 boundaries and 12 sixes.
The technical staff modified his tactical utilization by delaying his first-over appearances until the fifth game and collaborated with training personnel to regulate his practice volume in the nets.
"Bumrah is very experienced now. I think he knew as well [he wasn't in form].
So it was a collective conversation with his training staff as well," Jayawardene said. "Where do we push him and how do we...
There was a workload management as well, how much he could hold in nets or preparation.
So initially we tried to tactically also hold him in situations so that he's not too under pressure."
The management continued to assign Bumrah to high-pressure death-overs situations while maintaining open dialogue regarding his performance modifications.
"But being the lead bowler, he was always under pressure, like bowling at the death.
But we used him in different ways this season, so that it does give him a bit more freedom.
But he understands that.
When he comes back and he smiles and says, 'Coach, that didn't work, let's try something different' kind of thing.
So it's been a good conversation. I think we all learn from these kinds of seasons and managing all that," Jayawardene added.
Bumrah experienced mechanical difficulties with his approach stride due to the injury, committing seven front-foot no-balls to lead all tournament bowlers before conducting corrective training sessions during team breaks.
"One thing is for sure, there's no doubt that he put in [a lot of work] during these six or eight weeks to get back to where he should be.
I mean, the last few games, he was top-notch. He was all back again, bowling that 140-142 (kph) mark," Jayawardene said.
The coach affirmed that Bumrah dedicated scheduled practice periods to resolve his foot placement issues after returning to full physical health.
"He had a few issues with his run-up, purely because it was with the niggle that he had.
He was bowling quite a few no-balls this season, if you remember. That's to do with the build-up.
So that's something that he again went back and worked on. Whenever we had long breaks, he was working on that," Jayawardene said.
The Mumbai Indians organization concluded their strategic evaluations of Bumrah's performance changes as they look forward to subsequent tournament preparations.
"So I can't take anything away from his work ethic and what he puts off the field. It's just that it didn't happen on the field.
But we've had good conversations, and we know what we needed to do. We tried, it didn't work.
But we just need to move on from that," Jayawardene concluded.
