Brian Lara rates Jasprit Bumrah-led Mumbai Indians bowling unit 'worst' in a stunning verdict

West Indies legend Brian Lara opened up about where Mumbai Indians (MI) lacked in the game against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. He said that apart from Jasprit Bumrah there are no match-winners for the franchise in the bowling department. 

Mumbai Indians were at the receiving end of 20-run thrashing against Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2024. The El Classico of the league between the teams went down the wire but it's fair to say that it was the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side who looked favourites to win right from the start at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Mumbai Indians didn't look great with the ball as they made some errors, which was cashed by the Chennai Super Kings' batter. Although Jasprit Bumrah didn't take any wickets with the ball but he gave away only 27 runs. Apart from him, others were taken to the cleaners and ended up conceding 206 runs. 

With the bat, Rohit Sharma was the lone warrior as he played a magnificent innings of unbeaten 105. He didn't get the support from the other end as Mumbai Indiansendedd with 186 runs, losing the game by 20 runs to bag their fourth loss of the Indian Premier League. 

Brian Lara admitted that he backed Mumbai Indians to win the game but didn't go easy on the team, saying that they have a poor bowling lineup. He believes that there is no one to support Jasprit Bumrah. Speaking to Star Sports, he explained: 

"Not much, I think when we look at Mumbai Indians, a lot of people have them as favourites, simply because they were batting so well, they scored 230 runs, they chased on 196, made it look very easy, 15 overs, so on that fact I think, we pick them as favourites. 

"But their bowling is poor. Beyond Jasprit Bumrah, there is no one to actually support them in that bowling attack, and the CSK batters took them apart."

The spinners, they only bowled 4 overs - Brian Lara on Mumbai Indians' poor tactics 

Brian Lara further lashed out at Mumbai Indians, saying that they didn't trust the spinner to bowl against Shivam Dube. The batting great stated that they needed to find match winners. He also stressed that they failed to accelerate during the middle overs. He elaborated: 

"The spinners, they only bowled 4 overs after around 7 runs an over, but they weren't trusted with Shivam Dube out there. So, MI will have to improve in that area, they've got to find a couple of bowlers, match-winning bowlers. 

What it tells me more about this game is that, if you've got a good bowling unit, like CSK, you look at their bowling, every single bowler played a part in that game, every single bowler. We had dot balls at the time, we thought that Mumbai Indians were supposed to accelerate, but they didn't."

Mumbai Indians will be next seen in action when they take on Punjab Kings on Thursday (18th April). Chennai Super Kings on the other hand will take on Lucknow Super Giants next on Friday (19th April).