MUMBAI: Mumbai Indians’ (MI) coach Mahela Jayawardene has hinted at a few changes after repeated failures of the star-studded batting line-up and is also concerned about the drastic drop in form of star opener Ishan Kishan.
Record five-time champions Mumbai Indians are enduring their worst run in Indian Premier League (IPL) history having lost their first eight games, including the one against Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday night.
“Good question. I need to review this and a have a chat with the rest of the coaches as well and make some plans,” said Jayawardene when asked about potential changes in the batting line-up going forward in the competition.
“Batting has been a concern for us, especially on good wickets where we have batted under par. This is a senior group who understands the conditions and has performed in the past. We need to keep pushing; and if we need to make those changes, we will do that.
“We had a few changes (till now) but not a lot. We wanted to keep the batting consistent. Obviously there are concerns as we have not been consistent whether we are batting first or chasing totals down,” said the Sri Lankan legend.
Jayawardene also plans to sit down with Kishan whose performance graph has dipped drastically after fifties in the first two games.
“He has struggled a bit, we have given him the freedom to play his natural game. I haven’t yet spoken to him today, but I will have a conversation with him soon,” he said.
Mumbai had bought back Kishan for Rs 15.25 crore at the IPL auction earlier this year.
Skipper Rohit Sharma has also not not been at his best while veteran Kieron Pollard has also under-delivered.
—PTI

Press Trust of India