There are not many days when Jasprit Bumrah can be hit at will, but five-time champions Mumbai Indians’ Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday night was one such game where the greatest Indian fast bowler was taken to the cleaners.
Bumrah conceded 0/54 in his four overs, and SRH chased down a daunting 244 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Travis Head, Abshishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen were ruthless with the bat, and SRH got over the line with 8 balls remaining and six wickets in hand. Easy win, to all intents and purposes.
Also Read: INR 1.55 crore loss for Mumbai Indians: How each Jasprit Bumrah delivery cost MI INR 6.45 lakh
Former Mumbai Indians left-arm pacer Mitchell McClenaghan of New Zealand broke down what may have happened to Bumrah on a forgettable night for the entire MI bunch.
“Um, it was significant that they took him down. Look, you think of teams that have always had great players, and then a great player will get out for the first ball, and all of a sudden, the whole team deflates, the whole air out of the stadium gets sucked out.
“And that’s what happens when Bumrah gets hit. And if you take him on, and you’re aggressive, and you get away with it, and he doesn’t get a wicket, and you’re ahead of the run rate, then the rest of the troops on the field seem to, shoulders go down,” 39-year-old McClenaghan, who spent six seasons with MI from 2015-2020 and won the IPL four times, said on an ESPNcricinfo show.
“Because you’re not used to seeing that. And psychological as much as anything I think potentially, they didn’t use the surface as much as they probably should have throughout the innings.
“Can’t say, not having been there, how much dew was on the outfield. Looks like there was, so it may have become easier as the match went on. But we did listen to Will Jacks [MI allrounder] talk about how the slow ball bouncers and wider slow balls were difficult to hit, and potentially, we didn’t see enough of that,” he added.
What’s next for MI?
Mumbai Indians on Wednesday suffered their 6th defeat in 8 games in IPL 2026, and their campaign is now well and truly in the doldrums. Now they are in a situation where they have to win their remaining games, hoping at the same time that other results also go in their favour.
In the past they have been occasions when they managed to beat the similar odds and qualify. Now, on May 2, they travel to the Chidambaram Stadium to face another five-time champions, Chennai Super Kings, whose campaign in 2026 has not been great either.
