Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mahela Jayawardene on Thursday admitted that “lack of execution” in close games during this IPL season has been due to the poor “structuring” of line-up, putting them at the bottom of the 10-team table.

A mediocre bunch of domestic players like Basil Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat, Murugan Ashwin along with sentimental retentions like Kieron Pollard and an insane bid of Rs 15.25 crore for Ishan Kishan have all contributed to MI’s downfall.

“For a team to work, it is not about just one individual, it is about a team executing a game plan. The way we have structured our line-up this season, that is something we have lacked,” Jayawardene said when asked about Rohit Sharma’s poor run of form in the nine games.

“At the same time, we have not had those finishers at the back-end,” the head coach added.

Archer feared ‘career was over’

England speedster Jofra Archer felt he would not play again after undergoing two bouts of surgery on his troublesome elbow. The 27-year-old has not played international cricket since March last year and had a second round of elbow surgery in December. The time he spent on the sidelines filled him with doubts about his career, said the Barbados-born player.

“When you are forced to have operations, you do think about whether you are going to play cricket again, whether you’re going to play all formats even,” Archer said. “But the ECB (English board) gave me the assurance and peace of mind that they wanted me around for a long time..”

Archer is targeting a return in the T20 Blast later this month though he is doubtful for the home series against New Zealand next month. (Reuters)