Mumbai Indians lost the IPL 2025 Qualifier 2 against the Punjab Kings.
Former Mumbai Indians (MI) spinner Harbhajan Singh has taken a dig at the management for overengagement during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 Qualifier 2 match against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) last night. The former player expressed his disappointment over the MI head coach, Mahela Jayawardene and bowling coach Lasith Malinga, for instructing Jasprit Bumrah midway through the game.
“Look at the Mumbai Indians dugout. When they were leaking runs, there was way too much involvement from the outside. Coaches are telling a bowler like Bumrah what to do and what not,” said Harbhajan on his YouTube channel.
The former Indian spinner emphasised how the dressing room environment affects their players. He felt that these continuous suggestions from outside broke the players’ motivation during the knock-out clash.
“A dressing room needs to remain calm and composed. Coaches should only give advice. Don’t show desperation. So somewhere I felt that when this happens way too much, it breaks their spirit,” he added.
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Moreover, the 44-year-old also pointed out the importance of letting the big-match players decide the solutions in pressure situations. He severely criticised the coaches’ lack of faith in the star MI players, including their former captain.
“Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, these are big players. And when they are playing, let them do what they need to do to get the right result for the team. They have won many trophies together. They needed to be shown a lot more faith. But the coaching staff time and again was interfering and gesturing with their hands,” stressed Harbhajan.
Notably, MI head coach Jayawardene was also seen gesturing some instructions to Bumrah in their previous clash against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL 2025 Eliminator. The pacer handled the situation well and asked the coach to keep calm. They won that match by 20 runs but eventually failed to make it to the IPL 2025 Final. Pandya and Co. lost Qualifier 2 by five wickets.
The Mumbai outfit had a brilliant campaign. They started the season poorly with only one win in their initial five fixtures. However, they quickly made a turnaround and went on to win six successive matches thereafter. With eight victories in 14 matches, MI finished the league stage in fourth place. They also overcame the GT challenge in the IPL 2025 Eliminator.
However, PBKS thrashed MI’s hopes of winning their sixth title in the Qualifier 2. Previously, they had also defeated MI by seven wickets in their only league stage encounter at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, on May 26.
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