'How will you stop runs?' - Virender Sehwag finds root cause for Mumbai Indians' poor showing at IPL 2026

Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag has pointed the finger at the Mumbai Indians’ (MI) underwhelming bowling display as the root cause for their poor showing at the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL). This comes after their defeat at the hands of the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, April 29.

Batting first, MI put 243 runs on the board thanks to Ryan Rickelton’s unbeaten 123. Despite posting such a huge total on the board, SRH chased it down with relative ease, with eight balls to spare. 

Sehwag, therefore, rightfully questions the Indians’ bowling unit for allowing the opposition to chase down a total despite possessing some of the finest bowlers in T20 cricket history. 

"MI's issue is with implementation. They are not being able to execute their plans. When you need wickets, you are not getting the breakthroughs. How will you stop runs? You can stop runs only by dismissing rival batters. MI's bowling has been a big let-down. Earlier, they used to get wickets early on with Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult. But Bumrah was expensive today. Their execution in bowling has not been good,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.

Jasprit Bumrah is usually MI’s go-to bowler, not only for wickets but also to keep the scoring in check. However, he failed to do either of those things against SRH, going for 54 runs from his quota of four overs at an economy rate of 13.50. The right-arm seamer has not had the best of times this season, taking just two wickets from eight games and going at an economy of 8.80, the highest since the 2015 IPL.

Bumrah is not the only veteran struggling to find consistency this season. New Zealand star Trent Boult has also taken just two wickets this season from four matches, whilst conceding runs at an economy of 11.61. As things stand, MI’s highest wicket-taker this season has been AM Ghazanfar, with 10 scalps to his name. 

MI are currently ninth in the standings, with just four points to their name from their first eight matches of the season.