Jayawardene weighs in on retentions and team strategy ahead of IPL 2025

Mahela Jayawardene who returns as the head coach of Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2025 spoke to JioCinema about the thought process behind the retentions senior players leading the way dealing with expectations and excitement heading into the big auction as well as acknowledging where the team went wrong last season and doing a thorough analysis of the past few seasonsFour senior guys led the discussions about how we collectively move forwardWe had extensive discussions I think the four senior guys led those discussions Obviously what happened last season as well as how we collectively move forward I think that was crucial for us to align in that right direction So coaching staff owners management and these four guys I mean the direction came from them what needs to be done how it needs to go about So but thats the leadership as well I know Hardiks being appointed captain We had that conversation with them So that was led by them And obviously Ro led the retention part and everyone agreed that Booms you know being the best bowler in the world and hes been very consistent And we need to recognize that at the top And then he wanted the other young Indians to be recognized and it was his call So all in all it was brilliant to see that you know them leading that conversation and agreeing to everything So it was quite easy for usItrsquos about learnings for usI think its about learnings for us understanding what went right what went wrong I think we need to learn from that And that was part of the discussions that we had We need to control things on the field and obviously then the off the field stuff will be handled quite easily It was tough for us to perform on the field and everyone acknowledged that you know We underperformed as a group We need to make sure that we focus on on our preparation and our execution thats key to us Its a fantastic setup These four or five guys have created history I mean theyve got so many championships under their belt Theyve got the experience as long as theyre leading this group in that direction whoever we get in the auction they will set an example for those guys as well And we should be able to compete at that top levelAlso ReadHow T20 is altering Test match dynamicsPreparing well has always been our mantraI think the expectation is pressure on if you take on either side So its about us Weve always felt that our preparation if we do our work its like kids in a school If we do our homework if we prepare ourselves well the skill set that we have the experience we have will take care of things on the field So we just need to focus on that And I love these guys to go out there and play freely and add value to this group I think thats been our mantra for many years is our preparation So if you do that I think rather than thinking of the end result I think we will get to where we need to beCoachrsquos job is to keep the players balancedI think its a little bit of a balancing act I think at an IPL level its more about managing the expectations of those guys as well I mean they need to be freed up they will have different roles to play within the group and allowing them to do that And its about bringing the new group aligned to that you know structure of execution and what we ask of them as well especially the international players Weve had some really good experience guys in the past who did that for us So we know that part Its quite easy These guys are experienced They will lead them But at the same time we need to have that structure so that so that we dont derail whenever we see something Thats the coachs job to you know get back them on track make sure that theyre focused on the job in hand that the preparation is done they dont go too high or too low Its a long season so you need to keep them balanced confident relaxed Those are things that we will focus on behind the scene and make sure that we give them the tools that they need to go out and execute out in the middleAlso ReadCould Rishabh Pant be the next star in CSKs yellow Suresh Raina thinks soRetaining these five players gives us a lot of optionsAbsolutely I think that was the hardest thing as well I think all the guys all the five guys who returned we had a very deep conversation with our coaches owners and all that It was a tough decision But I think with the big option we needed options Obviously we can take RTM into that as well So that gives us a bit more flexibility I mean what we were trying to do is to cover up spots These five guys give us a lot of options in that space in that playing level So it gives us a lot of flexibility then going into the auction as well It was a tough call because we had some really good talent But lets see lets see how the auction goes But that was the thinking behind itThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday 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