New Delhi: Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mahela Jayawardene strongly hit back against the criticism surrounding the franchise’s recent performances in the IPL. MI have won a record five IPL titles, which are the joint-most along with CSK in the league’s history.
But the franchise has delivered inconsistent performances over the last five seasons, including two bottom-place finishes. The Mumbai-based franchise last won the IPL trophy in 2020. Jayawardene said that the competition became even harder after the introduction of two more teams.
“But I think in the last 5 years, we were in the playoffs 2 or 3 times, if I am not mistaken. So that means we had our opportunities in just that last bit,” Jayawardene said at the pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of the match against the Delhi Capitals.
Hardik Pandya replaced Rohit Sharma as the franchise captain ahead of the 2024 season, which drew massive criticism from the fans. However, MI have regrouped heading into the new season and are one of the favourites to lift the trophy. The presence of experienced Indian players like Rohit, Hardik, Suryakumar Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah gives MI a great chance to win their record-breaking sixth IPL title.
‘Some teams haven’t won it forever’
Jayawardene said that the team just need to trust the process and keep playing good cricket and they have been successful by doing it in the past. He further added that as long as they keep pushing themselves to the limit in every match, the results will take care of themselves.
“Rather than putting ourselves under pressure at the beginning of the season. Saying we haven’t won it for 4 years. But some teams haven’t won it forever either. So we are not rubbing it in. But with all due respect, we just thought that we would trust our process,” he added.
MI won their opening match of the season for the first time in 13 years after defeating KKR by six wickets. The Hardik Pandya-led side will next face Delhi Capitals on April 4.