Mahela Jayawardene reacts to Hardik Pandya’s poor form in IPL 2026: ‘Not a concern’

“I don’t think, to be honest. It is not a concern. He started well. In the first few games with the ball, he bowled really well. Overall, as a unit, we haven’t been consistent. But we haven’t picked up early wickets, we haven’t managed to control things in the way conditions and stuff like that, so that’s an overall thing. And if you look at it in batting as well, we’ve been good, but we have some patches that we haven’t been consistent, so it’s not one individual, it’s as a team, we all have to improve,” Jayawardene said in the post-match press conference.

Jayawardene felt that MI had lost their rhythm again after beating Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad, admitting that they lost the match in the powerplay phase with both bat and ball.

ALSO READ | Akeal Hosein reacts to CSK’s thumping 103-run win over MI: ‘Cricket is played on the day, not on paper’

“I think reality is that 4 points after 7 games, honestly, we haven’t played good cricket. It’s been in patches; we’ve had a great game in Ahmedabad, but I thought, you know, we found some rhythm, but again, we lost that rhythm. Probably this game, once you lose a match like that, it’s difficult to even analyse it. But probably the two power plays where we lost both the power plays, on the ball and with the bat, we just couldn’t get to the game.”

“But, like I said, it gives us, we got a little break now, it gives us some time to really sit down and think what we need to do in the next 7 matches, and we know exactly what we need to do, and we’ll plan and put our best foot out,” he said.

One of the talking points in the match against CSK was Shardul Thakur replacing Mitchell Santner as a concussion sub, despite what seemed like he had sustained a shoulder injury. The former Sri Lankan captain clarified the substitution, saying that he had gone for scans and not felt stable.

“I think he hit his head first, neck, obviously the shoulder as well. He went for a scan because once he got back he felt dizziness, so he was lying down. Yes, the ice was there for the shoulder, but he felt that he wasn’t stable. So we took him for a scan in that situation. So we requested, obviously it’s at the match referee’s and umpire’s discretion, so they allowed Shardul. Mitch will be disappointed that his batting power is matched to Shardul Thakur, but it is what it is. But hopefully it’s not too bad. Once he comes back, we’ll have a look at it,” he said.

MI next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at home on Wednesday.