We had a successful season, but this year was not to be: Mahela Jayawardene

Mahela Jayawardene, the head coach of the Mumbai Indians, discussed the defeat. Speaking about the match, the Sri Lankan icon admitted that the five-time winners did not play to their full potential and that the Punjab Kings had outperformed them in the match. Mahela Jayawardene also expressed disappointment with the team’s fielding performance and praised the Punjab Kings for their approach to chasing a score of 200+.

At the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday, June 1, the Mumbai Indians (MI) lost to the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the second IPL 2025 qualifier.

We had a successful season, but this year it wasn’t meant to be. Although there may have been many ifs and buts, I believe we paid for not playing a perfect game. We had a successful season given how we got off to a strong start, regrouped as a team, and produced some incredibly impressive cricket. We had our chances to qualify for the playoffs, and we started with a strong performance. According to Cricbuzz, Mahela Jayawardene stated, “Even today, I thought we played some good cricket, except for Kings playing better cricket than us, especially with the bat.”

They were strong, particularly when it came to pursuing 200. It’s not that simple. They did a fairly good job with that. Naturally, we made some mistakes with those two catchers, but that’s just the nature of the game. In the last game, we had that good fortune. We lost, but I think it was a wonderful game of cricket. That’s all there is to it,” the Sri Lankan icon continued.

It was more than just Bumrah: Mahela Jayawardene

Since the Mumbai Indians’ bowling attack appeared to be struggling to make progress and the world-class bowler had a rare off day during the game, there was also debate about whether Bumrah was once again carrying the load. Mahela, however, emphasised some outstanding performances from the other bowlers and refused to acknowledge that they were dependent on the star pacer.

Mitch (Santner) bowled well today, and Hardik followed suit, and I felt Ashwini bowled very well. Thus, Bumrah wasn’t the only issue. His goal was to increase those wickets, particularly from the PowerPlay. Josh (in English) was a good batsman. It was a fight between the well-executed overs 3–4. Mahela remarked, “They took advantage of the situation, or you might get a wicket.”