The Mumbai Indians lost the first five matches of their 2022 Indian Premier League campaign.
The five-time champions are in danger of not collecting a sixth title this year.
If they are still toward the bottom of the 10-team standings at the business end of the tournament, Mumbai are not going to be a favourite among cricket bettors to lift the 2022 IPL trophy.
Head coach Mahela Jayawardene is confident Mumbai can gather a change in fortune.
“We think we’re playing the best XI given the conditions and how we want to set up with our skillset and sometimes the rub of the green doesn’t go your way,” said Jaywardene.
“I think we just need to find how we can be consistent with our bat, ball and on the field as well. We haven’t been consistent in all departments when we got opportunities but we haven’t been ruthless enough to finish it off.”
The amount of knowledge and experience Dewald Brevis is gaining by sitting next to Tendulkar, Jayawardene and co, will put him light years ahead of most cricketers his age?????? #IPL2022
— Henry Davids (@HenryDavids19) April 13, 2022
Mumbai have South African Under-19 batsman Dewald Brevis in their ranks. He was impressive with a brisk 49 in defeat to the Punjab Kings. His quickfire stay included four consecutive sixes struck off leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, who used to represent Mumbai before moving to Punjab.
“It’s just a tactical thing because the two young guys – Brevis and Tilak Varma – you know what they’re capable of. So we’ve given them a bit of freedom to go and control that situation so that Kieron Pollard and Suryakumar Yadav are able to chase that. That was the initial thinking. It’s a call that we will take depending on how we’re set up tactically against a certain opposition and stuff like that,” added Jayawardene.
Whether Brevis retains his position in the Mumbai XI for the duration of the 2022 IPL remains in the balance. They also have Singapore and Big Bash League batsman Tim David to consider.
“If you are not winning games you got to try and find a way you can succeed as a team, as a batting group. So we are trying to find ideas, different thought processes, but doesn’t seem to be working at the moment. But I don’t want to take anything away from the guys. We fought pretty well, we batted brilliantly, but the Kings held their nerves pretty good and they won the game,” said Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma.
The Chennai Super Kings are the reigning IPL champions. They beat the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2021 IPL final. Chennai have four titles. Kolkata have two.