Mumbai Indians' (MI) season-opener against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) began with a scramble for control. MI used four different bowlers - Trent Boult, Hardik Pandya, AM Ghazanfar and Jasprit Bumrah - in the first five overs, and yet the runs kept flowing. Hardik then turned to his fifth option, Shardul Thakur, inside the powerplay in search of relief. Thakur provided exactly that almost instantly, breaking a 69-run stand between the KKR openers.
It remains a glimpse of MI's campaign so far. Thakur finished that night with 3 for 39, and four games into the season he remains their leading wicket-taker. But the catch is that he's added just two wickets to his tally since. Behind him are Mitchell Santner, Hardik and Ghazanfar with two each, while Deepak Chahar, Boult and Corbin Bosch have chipped in with one each. Mayank Markande and Bumrah, who've played three and four games respectively this season, are yet to open their accounts.
Now that doesn't indicate in any way that Bumrah hasn't been effective - his economy rate of 8.20 is still the best among MI's bowlers and the sixth-best overall among bowlers who've bowled at least 10 overs this season. Yet the absence of wickets has possibly had a knock-on effect, with pressure apparently diffusing across the attack, without anyone consistently stepping in to break partnerships.
MI have the worst economy rate in the competition (11.3) and a bowling average of 55.00, with Delhi Capitals a distant second-worst at 35.60. While MI haven't been especially egregious in the powerplay and death overs, they have been the most expensive team in the middle overs (11.08), conceding more than a run an over than the next-worst team in that phase, CSK (9.85).
A significant part of this can be put down to MI's spinners not being effective. In 2025, MI's spinners were among the most frugal in the tournament, but a year on, the drop-off has been stark. This year, they've taken just four wickets between them, and have the worst collective average (53.25) and economy rate (11.83) of all teams. Even at their peak last season, it was Santner who drove much of their success.
This season so far, their spinners - Markande, Ghazanfar and Santner - have struggled. Markande, in particular, has endured a difficult start, going at 15.20 and only being used for five overs across three innings. Santner has been steadier without being incisive, going at 9.28 but rarely looking like a consistent wicket-taking threat, while Ghazanfar has conceded exactly 12 an over.
Hardik has often fallen back on Bumrah when runs are flowing but this season, even that safety net has not quite worked. Bumrah has been bowling at a marginally reduced pace, likely a consequence of workload management after time spent at BCCI's Centre of Excellence ahead of the season. But more tellingly, his most trusted wicket-taking options - the yorker and offcutter - have not yielded returns. In the last two IPL seasons, nearly 60% of the wickets came from these two deliveries; this year, he has bowled 53 such balls, out of 90 overall, without any reward. This 90-ball wicketless stretch is Bumrah's longest in the IPL since 2014 when he went 110 deliveries without success.
Boult, too, has been unusually subdued this season. A bowler who builds his impact around early swing and new-ball movement, he has found little assistance, and his lengths have looking far more hittable than normal and his threat of early breakthroughs has diminished. Chahar, too, has struggled in the two matches he's played. That the two new-ball bowlers have had dwindling returns has put some pressure on Hardik, Sanjay Bangar said on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out after MI's loss against RCB.
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"You don't have another fast bowler," Bangar said. "Bosch [who played one match in Hardik's absence] does the job, but he's not a new-ball bowler - but who's going to bowl with Hardik? Because so far Deepak Chahar, their designated new-ball bowler, hasn't been the bowler they would have imagined.
"It's not going to be easy by just bringing in a new person that fortunes are going to change. I believe why they are not able to get back to their designed role in terms of skills. If Boult is not swinging the ball, they need to find out why he's not swinging the ball up top, is there anything technically that he can be assisted with, they need to look at that."
As for Thakur, his change of pace has been a wicket-taking option, but while effective in bursts, he's been expensive overall, going at 13.45. He has conceded the most boundaries of all MI bowlers.
With their batting too looking out of sorts, MI will hope their bowling attack comes to the party soon. Their batting coach Kieron Pollard has backed Bumrah to find his wicket-taking rhythm soon, and that remains crucial as they come up against a strong, unbeaten Punjab Kings team on Thursday.
With stats inputs from Shiva Jayaraman and Gaurav Sundararaman