Lasith Malinga was the backbone of the Mumbai Indians bowling departments for many seasons. After his retirement, Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah shouldered the bowling responsibilities of the pace attack in MI for two years. However, this year, only Bumrah is available to play among the elite pacers.
The Mumbai Indians have inexperienced IPL overseas players like Tymal Mills, Riley Meredith and Daniel Sams in their pace attack. They do not have a star capped Indian pacer as well, which is why there is a lot of burden on Bumrah’s shoulders this year.
The opposition teams play four overs of Bumrah cautiously and attack in the other 16 overs of the innings. MI is dearly missing Malinga, who is now the fast-bowling coach of the Rajasthan Royals franchise.
Earlier today, the Mumbai Indians suffered their sixth straight defeat in IPL 2022 while playing against the Lucknow Super Giants. Here’s what Lasith Malinga wrote on Twitter after that loss:
“MI has always been a team of comebacks. Whether or not they get through to the playoffs this year, expect them to have a strong finish to the season. Their core group of players and the support staff definitely have the quality to pull them back.”
@mipaltan has always been a team of comebacks. Whether or not they get through to the playoffs this year, expect them to have a strong finish to the season💙
Their core group of players and the support staff definitely have the quality to pull them back💪#MumbaiindiansAdvertisement— Lasith Malinga (@ninety9sl) April 16, 2022
Can MI still qualify for the IPL 2022 playoffs?
The chances of Mumbai Indians qualifying for the IPL 2022 playoffs are negligible, considering the way they have played in their first six matches of the season. Mathematically, there is still a chance, but for that, Rohit Sharma and his men will have to win all of their remaining eight matches.
It will be interesting to see if the Mumbai-based franchise could make a miraculous comeback in this year’s IPL or their struggles continue. Their next game is against the Chennai Super Kings on April 21 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
