Mumbai Indians (MI) are not worried about pacer Jasprit Bumrah's lack of wickets in the ongoing IPL 2026 tournament, the team's batting coach Kieron Pollard has said.
Mumbai Indians, who have just one win in three matches, face defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Mumbai on Sunday. Neither Jasprit Bumrah nor Trent Boult have taken a single wicket yet in the ongoing IPL season.
For Jasprit Bumrah, going wicketless is quite rare as he is known for consistently picking up wickets. At the 2026 T20 World Cup that India won, the Gujarat pacer picked up 14 wickets from eight matches, ending as the joint-highest wicket-taker in the tournament.
His longest wicketless run in the IPL was back in 2014, when he went four matches without taking a wicket.
Kieron Pollard backs Jasprit Bumrah despite wicketless run
"When you look at T20 cricket now, the way that it's going, you can't really think much about wickets," Pollard said during a pre-match press conference on Saturday.
"If you watch even the game that is being played presently [Punjab Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad], the powerplay went for over 100 runs. So again, sometimes the best form of attack is also defence.
"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," the former West Indies big-hitter added.
Mumbai Indians began their IPL 2026 campaign with a six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), but then went onto lose their next two matches against Delhi Capitals (DC) and Rajasthan Royals (RR).
‘Cricket is a team sport’: Kieron Pollard
The Hardik Pandya-led side are currently languishing in eighth place with just two points from three matches. Pollard stressed on the fact that cricket is a team sport, and that one shouldn't be worried about just one player's lack of form.
"It's fine. On our side, it's fine. We don't look at cricket as 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 (laughs)," he opined.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru, on the other hand, are coming to this match on the back of a six-wicket loss to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati. After being asked to bat first, Rajat Patidar’s side were 94/6 in the 11th over, but Patidar himself led from the front with a 40-ball 63 to take his team to 201/8.
However, teenager Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (78) and Dhruv Jurel (81) ran riot in RR’s run chase, with the two forging 108 runs for the second wicket in RR’s eventual six-wicket win over RCB.