IPL 2025: MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene defends Deepak Chahar- 'He is our main bowler'

Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene defended his decision to let Deepak Chahar bowl the final over against Gujarat Titans, which resulted in MI's loss by three wickets. With 14 runs to defend, Chahar conceded a four and six early in the over, and despite taking Gerald Coetzee's wicket, a no-ball proved costly as GT secured victory on the last ball.The match saw GT chase down a revised target after rain interruption, requiring 15 runs in the final over.MI had initially restricted GT to 126 for six while defending 155 for eight before the weather intervention.Jayawardene explained Chahar was the logical choice given his previous performances when Jasprit Bumrah was unavailable earlier in the season."Deepak did that job for us when Booms [Jasprit Bumrah] was not there. He was good, our main bowler. It's easier for you to ask me that question and for me to say, 'yeah, maybe Hardik'. Had Hardik gone for three sixes, you might have asked me why you didn't bowl Deepak. I don't like to go to that."The coach emphasized that execution, not decision-making, was the issue in their defeat."It wasn't the decision, it was the execution and that's not where we lost the game. My thinking is we lost the game when we had control of it and that was disappointing," Jayawardene stated.Quiz: Who's that IPL player?The loss ended Mumbai Indians' six-match winning streak and complicated their playoff chances, requiring victories in their remaining two matches.Jayawardene acknowledged that both teams made mistakes during the match, with MI making more costly ones."I think it sums it up. It is margins, but I probably, both teams made quite a few mistakes out there in the middle and we probably made more than them," he said.He reflected on the team's journey from a difficult start to their current position."We were in a situation when we were five games, four losses and one win. From that point onwards, we were in a must-win situation pretty much every game. We had a really good run. The tournament's tough and one good thing is we're playing teams which is in that bunch, so we probably control our own destiny."The coach also noted that MI's batting performance fell short of expectations."We were probably 30 runs short on that wicket and the guys bowled really well, created a lot of opportunities, fielded really well and fought for everything so that's good signs and we'll treat every game as a playoff game for us now," Jayawardene concluded.The victory propelled Gujarat Titans to the top of the points table, while Mumbai Indians must now win their remaining matches to stay in playoff contention.