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It has been a tough IPL 2026 season so far for the Mumbai Indians and once again Jasprit Bumrah has had to shoulder a lot of the responsibility on his own shoulders. Defending 160 in Chennai against CSK Jasprit Bumrah did his best.

The fast bowler took the wicket of the in form Sanju Samson and took 1-20 off his 3 overs. But as he delivered 3 well-disciplined overs CSK played the other bowlers accordingly and knocked off 160 runs quite easily. This has been a pattern for the MI so far this season. 

With 33 overs under his belt in 9 matches of the IPL this year, Bumrah's economy is an impressive 8.61 but the rest of the bowlers have given away runs. His job of taking wickets has been done to the best of his ability but the bowling unit needs to perform with him too.

Bumrah has played cricket consecutively from T20 World Cup and the workload is starting to show on him. The other bowlers of the MI are not providing him with much help, but his bowling also appears to have been affected due to over usage. While MI almost seem to be out of the playoff race with their pathetic performances, has Jasprit Bumrah been rested from the remaining games? Well, he seems to have a say in it. Mahela Jayawardene head coach of Mumbai Indians has denied the same.

Jayawardene said:

"We are not yet out, are we? It's too early for me to say anything; we still have five more games; anything can happen for us. We just need to finish the tournament positively and see what happens. There's a lot more cricket to be played; I don't think mathematically we're out from the tournament, so I'm going to fight, and I'm sure the rest of the boys will do the same as well."

Also Read | IPL Captains Struggling as Leaders in IPL 2026 Season

This issue of workload is even more concerning considering his history. After the IPL 2022 where he played all 14 matches for Mumbai Indians and took 15 wickets bowling a total of 53.2 overs Jasprit Bumrah suffered a stress fracture in his back which ruled him out for 11 months.

During the T20 World Cup in 2022 India's batting collapsed in the semis and if Bumrah would have played against England India could have easily defeated them. Also he has recently faced another injury in his back in the 2025 year and ever since then management of his workload has been key for him and he was even dropped from important Test matches against England earlier this year. 

The road ahead for Bumrah looks daunting, with World Test Championship games scheduled and the ODI World Cup in 2027 also to be played. Bumrah has not played any ODI's since the 2023 World Cup final and he desperately needs to be managed in order to remain fit for all formats. For now Mumbai Indians will fight and hope. But the real question is whether they should rest their best bowler or continue to drain him completely.