Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard assessed a testing phase for his franchise in IPL 2026, after the side stumbled in six of its eight matches and now finds itself staring at a must-win stretch to keep a realistic shot at the playoffs. MI were put under pressure even after compiling a huge 243 for 5, with Sunrisers Hyderabad successfully chasing the total with eight balls remaining. The result intensified scrutiny on Mumbai’s bowling, particularly Jasprit Bumrah, who struggled to make breakthroughs and finished wicketless while leaking 54 runs in his four overs—another sign of a campaign where the team’s batting and bowling have not consistently come together when it matters.
Pollard pointed to inconsistency as the central issue behind Mumbai’s season so far, saying the team has not met the required standards as a group and needs to lift performance across all facets of the game. “It has not been as consistent as we would have hoped. The results are showing. It is something you cannot shy away from. Collectively, we have not been good enough,” he said after the match. He added that improvements must be collective rather than isolated: “We just need to be collectively better as a unit. That is as much as you can ask. You can ask them to execute better in different areas of the game,” Pollard added in the post-match media interaction.
While speaking further, the MI support staff member stressed that winning still requires a complete, well-rounded display rather than flashes of dominance. “But we need to play that complete game of cricket to win a match. It is getting difficult with the way cricket is doing, but what I can safely say, in the dressing room, the guys are wanting to fight,” he said, highlighting that the mindset in the camp remains focused despite the setbacks.
Still in the race, but pressure rises
With the league phase tightening, Mumbai Indians now need to win all six of their remaining games, and do so by comfortable margins to boost their net run rate. A clean sweep would bring them to 16 points, a tally that has often been enough to secure a top-four spot in previous seasons. However, any failure to maintain momentum could place their qualification hopes in a precarious position, with their chances likely to be decided by net run rate in the final standings.
Despite the losses, Pollard insisted the squad has not mentally switched off, pointing out that they still hold belief as long as they remain in the mathematical frame. “We have lost games, but we have not accepted defeat. When I said defeat, I didn’t want the headlines to be that the Mumbai Indians have been defeated, because mathematically and from a points perspective, we are still very much in the tournament. Yes, we have accepted losses because we lost the last couple of games, but we have not accepted defeat because we are not out of the tournament. We are still looking to go back and see what we can do and how far we can go in this tournament,” he concluded.
