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Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher says the injuries to star fast bowlers Jaspit Bumrah and Jofra Archer were part of the reason why they were knocked out of the IPL.
Boucher watched his team fall to a 62-run defeat against the Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Friday after conceding a mammoth 233-3.
The five-time champions have regularly conceded totals in excess of 200 in this season's tournament and had to rely on batting exploits to reach the play-offs.
India paceman Bumrah was ruled out of the 2023 campaign having underwent lower-back surgery while England fast bowler Archer only played five matches due to an elbow injury.
Mumbai brought in Archer's international teammate Chris Jordan as a replacement but it did not have the desired influence on the bowling unit.
Speaking after the loss to Gujarat, Boucher said: "If you lose two stars in the bowling, you're going to have a couple of holes.
"Not to put any blame on anyone, those things happen in sports, injuries happen in sports and you've got to deal with it."
"I thought that the guys that we brought in, they did their best in a situation where they probably weren't selected upfront."
The defeat brought an end Boucher's maiden campaign as a head coach in the T20 franchise tournament and the former Proteas mentor insists he will take his time to reflect if they require changes ahead of next year.
"There are so many things that we can talk about but for me to open up a can of worms now would be stupid," Boucher said.
"I think it's time to just sit back, reflect a bit, take the emotion out of it and make some good, sound cricketing decisions once everything is calmed down and once we understand the future of certain individuals and where they are from a fitness perspective.
"To get to the playoffs is a good achievement. Obviously disappointed about tonight's result but I thought we fought right the way till the end."
