Mumbai Indians Coach Sees Positives in Bumrah's Return from Injury

Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene is encouraged by Jasprit Bumrah's performance in his return from a three-month injury layoff, but notes that the pace bowler needs more game time to improve.

Mumbai Indians pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah is looking solid after a three-month layoff due to a back injury, and coach Mahela Jayawardene believes he will improve with more game time. Bumrah had been sidelined since sustaining the injury during India's tour of Australia in January, missing several key matches, including a five-match Twenty20 international series with England and the Champions Trophy campaign.

“I just spoke to him after the game and he looks in good nick,” Jayawardene told reporters. “He's disappointed as well. He wanted a win when he came back. But other than that, he looks fine. I think the pace was up and the execution was good.” Bumrah returned to action in Mumbai's 12-run loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, going wicketless and conceding 29 runs in his four overs. Despite the loss, Jayawardene saw plenty of positives in Bumrah's performance.

"He's bowling today, so all good" - MI coach Jayawardene confirming Bumrah's availability 🚨

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Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene said the team wanted to ease pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah back into action after a three-month layoff due to injury. As a result, Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar were given the new ball duties against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

“I think we've got two swing bowlers, we need to give them that opportunity first up,” Jayawardene said. “Boom's coming back from a three-month layoff as well. So we just wanted to ease him into the competition. He bowled well and he controlled things really well. The more he starts playing... he'll get into it. The last time he was playing a test match, all of a sudden he's playing a T20. So we need to understand that. The skills were brilliant but there are areas for us to improve.” Jayawardene noted that while Bumrah showed promising skills, there were areas for improvement as he transitioned back to the shorter format.