'We couldn't get combinations going' - Keightley on MI's WPL 2026 struggles
Mumbai Indians head coach Lisa Keightley admitted that their WPL 2026 campaign never quite found momentum with injuries and constant adjustments disrupting set plans from the outset.
"We definitely struggled early to get going," the Australian said after an 11-run defeat to Gujarat Giants on Friday that left their title-defence hanging by a thread. "We had a lot of injuries and sickness to key players, which was tough. Then we had to find combinations and probably do a few things a little bit differently. We just couldn't get the combinations and partnerships to build momentum going within our tournament, which is disappointing. Being put under pressure early and losing matches was not ideal."
MI's run-in with the injuries began when retained allrounder Hayley Matthews sustained a quad niggle in a practice game after landing in Mumbai, to throw off their plans for a new opening pairing in this WPL cycle. When the replacement overseas star clicked, the temptation to persist was far too strong. Nat Sciver-Brunt's illness, along with frequent other combination tweaks saw their best foreign assets rested and rotated. It was unlike MI to shuffle their overseas quartet. To compound their woes, some of the frontline domestic picks couldn't deliver. Together, these robbed them of continuity, and the campaign slowly slipped away due to so many moving parts.
"We were really clear on what [the line-up] looked like going into the tournament," Keightley offered. "When Hayley did a quad and was out for three games, we had to work out what those [new] combinations were. A world-class opening batter is hard to replace.
"We had to move things around and obviously Nicola Carey coming in and playing so well. It was probably the first time we had to make a few decisions there on which way we were going to play and what overseas were the best."
From their 2025 title-winning XI, the only missing name on the team-sheet in Mumbai's 2026 curtain raiser was opener Yastika Bhatia, who they had neither retained nor bought back in the auction, presumably due to ACL-related layoff. Ironically, opening was one spot that remained a work in progress throughout.
After a few hits and misses, MI stuck with S Sajana to partner Matthews at the top. The head coach felt the India allrounder's intent and effort stood out despite the pressures of a mid-season switch in her role. "We've struggled up front and we've tried a number of combinations and we feel that Sajana and Hayley are our best options," Keightley said. "They've worked really hard over the last few days to get some rhythm going and trying to get us off to a good start.
"We picked her at no. 6, and she started the tournament fantastically, doing the role so well. It was just unfortunate that [G] Kamilini had to go home and we had to make a few adjustments."
Keightley lauded Sajana's team-first approach. "To her credit, she was really keen to try and go out there and do the best for the team. It's not easy going out facing world-class bowlers in this competition.
"She was really going team-first and trying to do what's best for the team and get the job done as well as she could. She put in a lot of work at training to make sure she prepped well to give herself the best chance. It was nice for her to get some runs today."
The new opener's 25-ball 26 was just the second best score on the day, behind captain Harmanpreet Kaur (48-ball 82*) who fought a lonely battle in the chase of 167.
MI's target could have been significantly lower had they not leaked 36 runs in just the space of 12 deliveries at the outset of slog-overs. Ash Gardner (5x4s, 1x6) and Georgia Wareham (2x4s) took the otherwise inexpensive Matthews (19 runs) and Shabnim Ismail (17 runs) to the cleaners to ensure a strong finish for their side.
Later as MI needed 42 off the last-three overs, Gardner brought on legspinner Georgia Wareham with leg-side being the bigger of the two boundaries for the right-handed Harmanpreet. She conceded just five runs in singles. When the equation was down to a difficult but not impossible 37 off 12, GG's death-overs specialist Sophie Devine sent down the penultimate over for just 11 and Gardner then defended 26 in the last. After an 0-8 record against MI at the start of the day, GG secured their maiden win over the defending champions to take them through to the Eliminator for a second year running.
Keightley credited the Giants for executing better at crucial junctures of the game. "They bowled really well. They were basically just too good for us today.
"The two-over swing after their [time-out] break [in the batting innings - the two overs for 37 [36] - that was a big shift. I thought we had it under control up until then. That phase was probably the difference with the bat."
Meanwhile, the two-time champions wrapped up their league stages with just three wins and five defeats, including three on the trot right in the middle of the season. They are third on the table owing to the best net run-rate (+0.059) among the three contenders in the race for the remaining berth in the Eliminator. Crucially, for the first time in four seasons, their fate is now dependent on a result outside their control - the bottom-of-the-table clash that winds up the round-robin stages on Sunday.
