Jayawardene weighs in on retentions and team strategy ahead of IPL 2025

Mahela Jayawardene (Pic: PTI)

Mahela Jayawardene, who returns as the head coach of Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2025, spoke to JioCinema about the thought process behind the retentions, senior players leading the way, dealing with expectations and excitement heading into the big auction as well as acknowledging where the team went wrong last season and doing a thorough analysis of the past few seasons.

'Four senior guys led the discussions about how we collectively move forward'

We had extensive discussions. I think the four senior guys led those discussions. Obviously, what happened last season, as well as how we collectively move forward. I think that was crucial for us to align in that right direction. So coaching staff, owners, management, and these four guys, I mean, the direction came from them, what needs to be done, how it needs to go about. So, but that's the leadership as well. I know Hardik's being appointed captain. We had that conversation with them. So that was led by them. And obviously, Ro led the retention part and everyone agreed that Boom's, you know, being the best bowler in the world, and he's been very consistent. And we need to recognize that at the top. And then he wanted the other young Indians to be recognized and it was his call. So, all in all, it was brilliant to see that, you know, them leading that conversation and agreeing to everything. So it was quite easy for us.

'It's about learnings for us'

I think it's about learnings for us, understanding what went right, what went wrong. I think we need to learn from that. And that was part of the discussions that we had. We need to control things on the field and obviously then the off the field stuff will be handled quite easily. It was tough for us to perform on the field and everyone acknowledged that you know. We underperformed as a group. We need to make sure that we focus on on our preparation and our execution, that's key to us. It's a fantastic setup. These four or five guys have created history, I mean, they've got so many championships under their belt. They've got the experience, as long as they're leading this group in that direction, whoever we get in the auction, they will set an example for those guys as well. And we should be able to compete at that top level.

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'Preparing well has always been our mantra'

I think the expectation is pressure on if you take on either side. So it's about us. We've always felt that our preparation, if we do our work, it's like kids in a school. If we do our homework, if we prepare ourselves well, the skill set that we have, the experience we have, will take care of things on the field. So we just need to focus on that. And I love these guys to go out there and play freely and add value to this group. I think that's been our mantra for many years, is our preparation. So if you do that, I think rather than thinking of the end result, I think we will get to where we need to be.

'Coach's job is to keep the players balanced'

I think it's a little bit of a balancing act. I think at an IPL level, it's more about managing the expectations of those guys as well. I mean, they need to be freed up, they will have different roles to play within the group and allowing them to do that. And it's about bringing the new group aligned to that, you know, structure of execution, and what we ask of them as well, especially the international players. We've had some really good experience guys in the past who did that for us. So we know that part. It's quite easy. These guys are experienced. They will lead them. But at the same time, we need to have that structure so that so that we don't derail whenever we see something. That's the coach's job to, you know, get back them on track make sure that they're focused on the job in hand, that the preparation is done, they don't go too high or too low. It's a long season so you need to keep them balanced, confident, relaxed. Those are things that we will focus on behind the scene and make sure that we give them the tools that they need to go out and execute out in the middle.

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'Retaining these five players gives us a lot of options'

Absolutely, I think that was the hardest thing as well. I think all the guys, all the five guys who returned, we had a very deep conversation with our coaches, owners and all that. It was a tough decision. But I think with the big option, we needed options. Obviously, we can take RTM into that as well. So that gives us a bit more flexibility. I mean, what we were trying to do is to cover up spots. These five guys give us a lot of options in that space, in that playing level. So it gives us a lot of flexibility then going into the auction as well. It was a tough call because we had some really good talent. But let's see, let's see how the auction goes. But that was the thinking behind it.

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