Mumbai Indians (MI) batting coach Kieron Pollard has dismissed concerns regarding Jasprit Bumrah's wicketless streak in IPL 2026, backing the ace pacer ahead of their Sunday’s (April 12) clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
Despite two consecutive losses, Pollard confirmed that MI will maintain a flexible approach with batter Tilak Varma, aiming to break their losing streak.
“Sometimes the best form of attack is also defence. We're not looking too much into the wicketless nature of Jasprit Bumrah,” Pollard told reporters ahead of MI's training session on Saturday.
When questioned about Bumrah lacking his usual high speeds when Rajasthan Royals openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi were attacking aggressively, Pollard mentioned that fighting "fire with fire" isn't always the best option.
“If the ball is going at 100 knots out of the ground, you don't want to fight fire with fire, right? You want to try something different,” he replied.
“In our camp, we are not concerned about Jasprit Bumrah. There's no issues. You guys go into the intricacies of data and pace and wickets and all of that. We don't look at cricket like that,” Pollard added.
Pollard also addressed query on Will Jacks’s delayed arrival, citing that the franchise expects the England all-rounder to join the squad very soon.
“We are expecting him very soon. As you alluded to fitness issues, to my knowledge, I don't know anything about that,” he said, adding that Mitchell Santner has trained well in the lead-up to this contest.
When asked about Tilak’s shifting positions in the order affecting his run output, Pollard emphasized that players must remain flexible based on the match situation rather than being rigid about fixed numbers.
“Everyone is flexible so you're not going to limit one particular number in terms of where they bat,” he said.
“I think everything has to be what the team requires at that particular time because then we can argue the fact as well that Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) has batted (at No.) three for us and India and done well, so we don't need to get into positions but what is required at that point in time.
Pollard praised RR’s 15-year-old prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for taking the world by storm but cautioned against abandoning support for him once bowlers figure him out.
“At 15 years I was still at school playing club cricket and not even sure of having a career. But it's very exciting to see a young guy taking the world by storm,” he said when asked about Sooryavanshi.
“One of the things I always say is let's not be on the bandwagon if you have a couple of failures and guys sort of figure him out, we then just trim (him) at the wayside and forget all about it. I think that's the biggest fear for me as an individual being a cricketer that we all run with the hype and then when something happens...,” Pollard added.
Pollard showered rich praise on veterans campaigners Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli but said the contest at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday is between two teams.
"It's a great honour, privilege and achievement for him or any individual to be in one franchise for 15 years. Not many people can say that. Luckily enough, I can say that,” Pollard said.
“Everyone has different motivations in playing for a long period of time. Imran Tahir playing somewhere in the world and he's about 46 or 47. (MS) Dhoni is still playing at 44. Fortunately, I'm still playing around the world at 39. So again, different things motivate individuals to continue playing.
“These guys have done well for cricket overall but we tend to just look at the age and they need to do this and they need to do that. I believe we should continue to honour these guys who have put smiles on our faces over a period of time and let them decide when it's time."
(With PTI Inputs)
