MI vs RCB: Kieron Pollard Not Concerned About Jasprit Bumrah’s Performance

Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard isn’t worried about the wicketless campaign of Jasprit Bumrah at this stage believing he would get wickets when it matters the most. Mumbai Indians have problems to address, no doubt, as both Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult are wicketless. Add to that, five Mumbai Indians bowlers have an economy rate of at least 12 so far.

Even in this era of T20 scores getting bigger every season, there are chinks MI would want to straighten out soon, especially after losing their last two games and moving down to eighth on the points table. Even though they return to the comforts of their home ground for their next two matches, they know better than anyone that the Wankhede Stadium, where they meet RCB on Sunday night is no safe haven for bowlers.

After their loss to Rajasthan Royals, head coach Mahela Jayawardene felt that MI haven’t been able to execute their new ball plans at all. Boult, the bowler with the most first-over wickets in the IPL, has been off-colour  not just in the two games he has played so far but also in all T20s this year. In nine games across the SA20 and IPL so far in 2026, Boult has collected only two powerplay wickets in 16 overs, while going at 9.62 per over.

Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur, who are typically regular wicket-takers, have not given Bumrah the support he’d like. Even though Chahar had an economical outing against Delhi Capitals, the Rajasthan Royals openers took him apart in a shortened game in Guwahati, while Thakur has continued to be the double-edged sword he usually is. He is MI’s top wicket-taker so far with a count of four, but is also their most expensive bowler with an economy rate of 12.88.

With AM Ghazanfar also going at 12 an over so far while picking up just two wickets, it’s possible that the oppositions MI have faced so far have looked to play out Bumrah with minimal damage, and have gone after the rest of the bowlers.

Kieron Pollard’s views on performance of Jasprit Bumrah so far

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Kieron Pollard said: “When you look at T20 cricket now, the way it’s going, you can’t really think much about wickets. If you watch even the game that is being played presently between Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, the powerplay went for over 100 runs. So again, sometimes the best form of attack is also defence.” 

He further added: “And we’re not looking too much into the wicketless nature of Jasprit Bumrah. He’s a world-class bowler. He has done it time and time again for India and also for Mumbai Indians. And again, when the time comes to get wickets, he’ll get wickets. If not, and he’s economical, we’ll accept that as well.” 

“It’s fine. On our side, it’s fine. We don’t look at cricket at that. And I, as an individual, never look at cricket as that. Cricket is a team sport. So, for us, it’s about coming together as one and trying to get the desired result at the end of the day because then I can look into all different things and create things that are not there. So, for us, he’s fine, he’s fit, he’s firing. And for your sake, I hope he gets five wickets tomorrow. And the economy is about five as well.” 

Jasprit Bumrah has conceded runs at just eight an over so far, a comforting factor for MI, but his speeds have been unusually low. His first delivery against RR, which Vaibhav Sooryavanshi smacked for a maximum, clocked just over 130 km/hr, and he didn’t really pick up pace after that, seldom threatening the 140 km/hr mark.

Kieron Pollard said: “Again, as it comes to the pace and lack thereof. If the ball is going at 100 knots out of the ground, you don’t want to fight fire with fire, right? You’ve got to try something different. But, again, as I said, in all accounts, we are not concerned about Jasprit Bumrah. There’s no issues,” 

Jasprit Bumrah might take some confidence from the fact that he has picked up wickets regularly against MI’s next opposition, his tally of 29 being the second-best by any bowler against RCB. But the defending champions also have a power-packed line-up. On Friday, even though they slipped to 94/6 against RR, they made it clear they wouldn’t compromise on their attacking intent, and went onto post a 200-plus total. Until 2025, MI boasted a 10-year unbeaten record against RCB at the Wankhede, but RCB snapped that run last year when they piled on 221/5 at the venue last year.

Kieron Pollard’s views on MI bowler’s planning in the age of inflated scores and fearless attitude of the batters

The question is how are MI bowlers planning with the scores becoming higher and the fearless attitude of the batters.

Speaking on this matter, Kieron Pollard said: “The experience you have garnered over time, you tend to participate in all discussions and conversations. It’s difficult for the guys. We just try to continue to encourage them. We try to work as hard as possible on execution and understanding how we can, when the batsmen come, get them out firstly, and if not try to restrict them. When you’re on the field, it all boils down to mindset and execution. So the most you can do is sort of practice and have those sort of conversations. Practice is skill, but it’s bat versus ball on the day and who cracks first.” 

Kieron Pollard further added: “So for us, we’re going to hold strong as a bowling unit. And when you look at it, on any given day, a couple of guys are going to go for runs in T20 cricket, but hopefully at the end we can average it out and stay within that sort of par total, which has gone up a bit in the last couple of seasons or so. So good conversations are being had, and hopefully, as I said, the fruitfulness we’ll get it on the cricket field itself.” 

We have to wait and see how Bumrah performs when MI takes on RCB later tonight in Mumbai. Hopefully, he will be amongst the wickets.

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