IPL Pre-Match Comments: Mahela Jayawardene Wants No Pressure On Bumrah In His Comeback Match

Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene stated the team was not expecting too much from the legendary Jasprit Bumrah although he felt the gun pacer would be look to give his best on Monday against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
Jayawardene felt with the star pacer returning from a fairly long lay-off it was important to give him time.
"He arrived last night and I believe he had his sessions with NCA to finalise that. He has been handed over to our physios. So, yeah, he is bowling today, all (is) good and we will play tomorrow (Monday)."
"Boom's coming back from a pretty decent layoff so we need to give him that space and not expect too much. But knowing Jasprit, he'll be up for it and we're very happy to have him in the camp," he added.

Jayawardene was of the opinion that Bumrah's mere presence in the team was a big morale booster for all the pacers in the squad especially the younger ones.
"The experience that he brings and that extra voice out there in the middle, chatting with Boulty, chatting with Deepak or any other younger bowler, giving that advice is also very valuable for us. So, that's what we're looking forward to from him," the Sri Lankan said.

The coach also hoped that all pacers in the team would stay injury-free for the season.

"Yeah, Deepak (Chahar is there) as well and the only guy we're missing out is Allah (Mohammad Ghazanfar), whom we had signed up as a combination, with his injury," Jayawardene said.
"But other than that, now (that) everyone is back so, hopefully, we keep all of them, touch-wood, healthy for the season and allow them to do what they know best."  
Jayawardene also had some positive news with regard to veteran batter Rohit Sharma, who had missed in the previous game.
"Ro (Rohit) looks good. He is going to bat today. It was just an unfortunate impact on his leg while batting so, it was not comfortable. We were travelling yesterday. He will have a hit today and then we will do an assessment on that,"
With the former MI skipper going through a rough phase with just 21 runs in three matches, Jayawardene put his weight behind Rohit stating it was not fair to judge by a few innings.

"He's batting well in the nets. If you're telling me that every two innings, you're going to look at someone's performance, it's a bit unfair. I remember his last innings was the Champions Trophy winning knock, so, we have to give (support) and back the experienced guys and (expect) them coming to the party. We've always, as Mumbai, we've backed the core group to deliver for us and we're going to do that," he added.