Mahela Jayawardene defends selection decisions after Mumbai Indians miss IPL playoffs

The result marked their eighth loss in 11 matches, sealing an early exit from the tournament.

Head coach Mahela Jayawardene attributed the collapse of their season largely to injuries to key personnel, which forced constant changes to the team's line-ups and disrupted continuity.

Mumbai Indians, who are known for investing heavily in squad construction, were repeatedly forced to shuffle their XI throughout the campaign.

Captain Hardik Pandya endured a difficult season both as leader and all-rounder, missing three matches due to a back spasm and struggling for form when available. Star batter Suryakumar Yadav also endured a lean run with the bat, unable to consistently influence matches.

Injuries further compounded Mumbai's problems, with Rohit Sharma sidelined for six matches due to a hamstring strain, while Mitchell Santner also missed games because of a shoulder injury.

Despite the setbacks and underwhelming performances, Jayawardene backed the decision to persist with senior players such as Pandya and Suryakumar.

"I don't think it was chopping and changing," former Sri Lanka captain Jayawardene said.

"We had a lot of injuries, a lot of niggles, players getting injured, and some players were not available. So, those were mostly forced changes.

"Tactically, we would have made very few changes during the season. I would have loved to have our main core guys consistently being out there. But there's no excuse. I think we had a quality squad."

"The core group is quite valuable for us. You can't just keep changing," he added.

"We went with the trust, the confidence that we had with them. And then it is what it is... They had a really good World Cup, winning it and all that. So I think it's just that as a unit, we haven't been good enough."  

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