The five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have not won a single title since 2020, and the head coach, Mahela Jayawardene, said that having 10 teams in the competition makes it tougher and they need to do well to win the title again.
Addressing the media during a press conference on the eve of the match against Delhi Capitals, Jayawardene said, “I think 10 teams make it an even harder competition. But I think in the last five years, we were in the playoffs, if I am not mistaken, two times. So that means we had our opportunities in just that last bit.”
However, MI have failed to qualify for the playoffs in the 2021, 2022 and 2024 seasons as wel as they finished in fourth place in the 2023 and 2025 seasons. They ended at the bottom of the points table in the 2022 and 2024 seasons as well.
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“You have to take one game at a time and go through the processes. I think as a team, we know that we have done well consistently over a period of time. And we just need to continue to trust that process and keep playing good cricket. And we will get there. How we have been successful is by doing the same thing. So I don’t see why we need to do something different,” said Jaywardene.
He also believes that MI players need to have the winning attitude on and off the field and need to be a better team, and after that results will come.
“As long as we keep pushing ourselves to the limit on each and every game and have the same attitude on and off the field to be a better team, a better franchise. I think the results will take care of themselves rather than putting ourselves under pressure,” he again said.
“Beginning of the season, saying we haven’t won it for five years. But there are some teams that haven’t won it forever as well, right? So I am not rubbing it in. But with all due respect, we just thought that we will just trust our process and work on ourselves on how we need to go about it. We want to win it every year if possible, but it’s not possible. Teams are tougher; they are better. So we need to keep fighting,” Mahela Jayawardene concluded.
