Jasprit Bumrah took 14 wickets at an average of 12.42 as joint-leading wicket-taker at the T20 World Cup 2026 just weeks ago.
Jassi is now four matches into IPL 2026 without a single wicket. The contrast between those two facts is stark enough to generate headlines on its own. But the more interesting and more alarming story for Mumbai Indians is not the wicket drought.
It is that Bumrah is still their best bowler and he is still not taking wickets and MI are still losing and the two problems are entirely separate from each other.
IPL 2026: Drought in numbers and how long it has actually been going
Bumrah has bowled 122 legal deliveries in IPL 2026 without a breakthrough. His four-match wicketless streak this season breaks down as follows. Against KKR at Wankhede on March 29 he took 0 for 35 from four overs.
Against DC in Delhi on April 4 he took 0 for 21 from four overs at an economy of 5.25. Against RR in Guwahati on April 7 he took 0 for 32 from three overs. Against RCB at Wankhede on April 12 he took 0 for 35 from four overs when RCB posted 240 for 4.
Total across those four matches: 15.3 overs, 123 runs, zero wickets, economy of 8.20. If you include the final match of the 2025 season the streak extends to five consecutive IPL matches without a wicket which is the longest drought of his entire IPL career dating back to his debut in 2013.
Irony sitting inside those numbers is that his economy of 8.20 makes him the 10th most economical bowler in the tournament. Against RCB on Sunday when the match was effectively lost in the powerplay and MI conceded 240, Bumrah’s 8.75 economy was the best figure any MI bowler returned. The other bowlers were going at 12 and 13 an over. Bumrah held his end. He just did not take a wicket.
Why teams are not losing their wickets to Jasprit Bumrah and what has changed
Wicket drought is not a skill problem. It is a tactical response from opposition teams that has been carefully constructed over four matches. Batters in IPL 2026 have shifted to a block-out approach against Bumrah.
Rather than attempting to attack his 24 deliveries they are content to score five or six runs per over off him and target the weaker links in MI’s bowling chain at the other end. This is the most sophisticated compliment any opposition can pay a bowler.
They have decided he is too dangerous to go after and too disciplined to score freely against, so they leave him alone and feast elsewhere.
Powerplay has been the specific problem area. Bumrah historically is at his most dangerous when he gets an early wicket because it disrupts partnerships and brings pressure onto the incoming batter.
In 2026 he has not found the edge or the stumps in his opening overs and opposition openers have settled against him before moving on to attack the other bowlers. At the Wankhede specifically the flat pitch this season has removed the lateral movement that makes his unusual release point and high pace even more difficult to negotiate.
World-class batsmen like Virat Kohli have been able to play him safely through the line without the ball doing enough to create uncertainty.
Also READ: 6 reasons MI lost to RCB: Salt-Kohli charge to Suyash’s double strike
Bigger MI problem and why Jasprit Bumrah’s drought is only part of it
Support bowling is where MI’s real problem lives. Trent Boult has 146 wickets in 123 IPL matches and is one of the most reliable first-over specialists the tournament has seen. He has one wicket in IPL 2026.
Jasprit at one end creating pressure that is not being converted into wickets and Boult at the other end not taking wickets either means MI are essentially bowling with one hand tied behind their back in every game. MI conceded 71 runs in the powerplay against RCB on Sunday and 53 in the death overs.
They have the second worst death bowling record in the tournament behind Rajasthan Royals, averaging 33 runs per wicket across 13.1 overs with just four wickets. Bumrah is not the death bowling problem.
He is the best of a unit that is collectively underperforming and the wicketless streak distracts from the more systemic issue that even when Bumrah is bowling well the bowlers around him are not making it matter.
MI have won one and lost three in IPL 2026. Bumrah is their best bowler. He is taking no wickets. Those three facts sit together in a way that makes the next few games the most important of his IPL 2026 season. The economy will not be the thing that turns MI’s campaign around. The wickets will.
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