The Wankhede crowd had just started cheering. Trent Boult had taken the wicket of Phil Salt in the very first over, and Mumbai Indians looked ready to fight. But things changed quickly.

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RCB’s batters, especially Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal, started hitting boundaries and took the powerplay score to 73/1. MI’s bowlers gave away too many runs again in the powerplay something that’s becoming a big problem.

Coach Mahela Jayawardene admitted it clearly after MI’s fourth loss in five matches.

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"The powerplay is a concern for us with the ball and the bat... They had a big sixth over, which really hurt us in that powerplay," he said after the loss on Monday (Apr 7).

So far in IPL 2025, MI has the worst economy rate in the powerplay – over 10 runs per over – and they’ve picked up just six wickets in this phase.

When it was their turn to bat, MI again lost quick wickets and were 54 for 2 in the first six overs. 

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"With the bat as well, we had a good start but couldn't continue... we're not hitting our strides and that is a concern," Jayawardene added.

He still believes in his senior players and doesn’t want to make changes just yet.

"I still back the senior pros... we need to be a bit more ruthless," he said. 

Talking about Rohit Sharma’s low score, Jayawardene said he isn’t worried.

"I wouldn’t read into that too much... Rohit will work hard on it," he said.

Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma gave MI some hope with a quick 89-run partnership, but it wasn’t enough to win.

"We were close, but not good enough... we are not playing the best cricket we could play," Jayawardene said.

MI now sits at the bottom half of the table — and they need to bounce back quickly before it’s too late.