Jayawardene described MI's campaign as "disappointing".
Mumbai Indians (MI) are officially eliminated from the IPL 2026 playoffs race after a dramatic two-wicket loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Raipur on Sunday (May 10).
After a top-order collapse orchestrated by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/23), MI rebuilt through Tilak Varma (57 off 42) and Naman Dhir (47 off 32) to post 166/7.
During the chase, RCB were reduced to 39/3 in 5.1 overs before Krunal Pandya (73 off 46) produced a counter punch to steady the ship. Needing 15 from the final over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar hit a crucial six off Raj Bawa. With two required off the last delivery, Rasikh Salam Dar scrambled for a double to seal the deal.
With this defeat, MI remained rooted to ninth spot on the 10-team points table. Having secure only three wins from 11 matches, they now cannot reach the necessary points threshold to make the playoffs.
Speaking during the pos-match press conference, MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene described the campaign as "disappointing," citing inconsistency in both batting and bowling as major reasons for falling short.
"The season is disappointing. We've had our opportunities, but we were not good enough. We were not consistent enough with the ball or the bat, and that showed in the margins. We were probably two or three wins away from being in the same group of contenders to get into the playoffs, but we didn't get those wins, and today was another classic example where we fell short," Jayawardene told reporters.
"It's difficult for me to sum up a season right now; I have to give it some thought and figure out exactly what happened. But yeah, we were not good enough with our skills and execution this season," he added.
The coach clarified that altering team combination were not "chopping and changing" but largely forced by injuries and player unavailability.
"I don't think it was chopping and changing. What probably you guys didn't know is that we had a lot of injuries and a lot of niggles-guys getting injured or being unavailable. So, those were mostly forced changes. Tactically, we would have changed very few during the season. I would have loved to have our main core guys consistently out there. But there are no excuses. I think we had a quality squad. It's just that we had to put our hands up and say that we were not good enough overall. We just need to continue to play good cricket. The message to the boys is to continue to do that," he stated.
While Mumbai Indians cited 'back spasm' as the reason behind skipper Hardik Pandya's absence from the last two games, several players received backing from the management despite poor returns.
One of those players is Suryakumar Yadav, the team's designated vice-captain, who managed to score only 195 runs in 11 innings at an average of 17.73 and a strike rate of 144.44 with just one half-century to his credit.
When asked if benching certain players had become a 'political decision', Mahela Jayawardene denied it.
"I don't think it is," Jayawardene said before expressing full confidence in the core group, noting how hard they were trying to turn their form around.
"When you know the quality, you know they're also trying to do their best. If I knew it was something to do with a lack of effort, I would have spoken to them, but the commitment and the effort they're putting in is unbelievable. With Ro getting injured and coming back to bat the way he did-all that sums it up. The core group is quite valuable for us; you can't just keep changing. We went with the trust and the confidence that we had in them. There was no reason for us to sideline them because they just came from a World Cup, and they had a really good World Cup, winning it and all that. As a unit, we haven't been good enough,” he explained.