Former Team India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin believes Mumbai Indians (MI) pacer Jasprit Bumrah is not out of form despite his pedestrian returns in IPL 2026. The champion seamer is shockingly yet to take a wicket in five games this season, while going at an economy of 8.63.
Bumrah endured his worst showing in MI’s latest match against Punjab Kings (PBKS) with figures of 0/41 in four overs. His poor returns mean MI are in a hole with only one win in five outings.
Talking about Bumrah’s bowling after the PBKS encounter on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said (11:01):
“We can easily say he gave away 40 runs and didn’t pick up a wicket. But he’s in a really tough spot. He has to stop the flow of runs and take wickets. To manage that in 24 balls is impossible. Also, he is a human being, too. Being out of form is common, and I won’t even say he is out of form. His bowling isn’t anything worrisome.”
He continued:
“Today, Shreyas Iyer pulled him for a six. Bumrah needn’t have even bowled that ball. When he is in good rhythm, if he wanted to defend the runs, he would have bowled a yorker to finish it. He’s bowling the bouncers and slower balls to try and take a wicket, while also restricting the runs. So he’s bowling every ball in his arsenal.”
Bumrah is coming off a brilliant T20 World Cup 2026, where he finished as the joint-leading wicket-taker with 14 scalps to help India clinch the title.
Ravichandran Ashwin believes opening the bowling with veteran pacer Deepak Chahar wasn’t the problem for MI in their defeat to PBKS. Instead, Ashwin questioned Chahar’s execution against PBKS opener Prabhsimran Singh, resulting in a 21-run over.
“The problem wasn’t Chahar bowling the opening over. The problem was his execution. First ball itself, he tried a late swinging delivery, pitching on the leg stump like Dale Steyn. For that, he had the wrong field angle. Then he bowls a wide ball outside off-stump,” said Ashwin (via the aforementioned source).
He added:
“Just the execution quality of Deepak Chahar wasn’t up to the mark. Knowing Prabhsimran Singh is good on the off-side, he still never used the inswinger. So the miss was in the thought process and execution.”
Chahar’s poor opening over set PBKS on their way in the run-chase of 195, which they completed in the 17th over with seven wickets in hand. Meanwhile, Chahar finished with dismal figures of 0/45 in 2.3 overs.
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