Jayawardene believes the expansion to 10 teams has made the IPL a much tougher competition.
Addressing the media on the eve of their match against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Jayawardene emphasized that despite not winning a title since 2020, MI have remained competitive by reaching the playoffs twice in the last five seasons (2023 and 2025).
"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," Jayawardene told reporters.
MI began their 2026 campaign with a record-breaking chase of 221 runs against KKR, marking their first opening-match win in 14 years.
Jayawardene argued that because their existing methods have brought them five titles in the past, there is no need to drastically change their approach.
"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," stated Jaywardene.
The coach stressed the importance of maintaining a "winning attitude" on and off the field and not letting external expectations create unnecessary pressure early in the season.
"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 remarked.
Jayawardene mentioned that while MI is under pressure to win, several other franchises (Delhi Capitals, Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants) are still chasing their maiden IPL title.
"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," Jayawardene concluded.