Will Jacks Hardik Pandya. Image Credits: AFP
Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) is peaking, but the five-time champions Mumbai Indians have just seemed like a mere shadow of themselves. Even though they opened their campaign with a bang, MI are crawling in the bottom half after losing back-to-back fixtures.
After MI's latest defeat to the Rajasthan Royals, many questions are being asked. Despite having a truckload of international stars at their disposal, Mumbai are struggling to find the right balance in their squad, especially with Will Jacks unavailable.
The prolific English all-rounder has yet to join the squad, though, before the start of the season, it was understood that Jacks would join the Mumbai-based franchise in a week.
Will Jacks ditches IPL for concert in Paris
On Thursday, a massive update on Will Jacks has been unearthed, as revealed by his fiancée Ana Brumwell. Using her Instagram, the cricketer's wife-to-be shared a story from Paris, where the couple are holidaying.
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It is understood that the Jacks and his fiancée attended a concert of the American singer-songwriter Alex Warren in Paris. Moreover, before landing in France, they were in Morocco last week.
Jacks engaged his high-school sweetheart Ana Brumwell earlier this year during the Ashes tour in Australia. Reportedly, they have been dating since they were 14 years old.
MI getting desperate in Will Jacks' absence
Interestingly, after MI's hard defeat to the Royals, head coach Mahela Jayawardene hoped that Will Jacks will join the squad soon. However, he didn't provide a timeline.
"Will (Jacks) still hasn't joined the squad. We are hoping he will join pretty soon," Mahela Jayawardene had said after the Rajasthan game.
In IPL 2025, the English all-rounder was a mainstay in MI's line-up, where he finished with 233 runs and six wickets as they bowed out in the playoffs.
There is a lot of chopping and choosing going on in the MI camp currently. In Jacks' absence, Mumbai are struggling to find balance and are unable to field their best XI.
In the first game, they fielded Allah Ghanzanfar in the Englishman's absence. Although they won the game, the move didn't fare well. In the subsequent fixture, Mumbai dropped the mystery spinner for Mitchell Santner against DC and lost that game.
Then, against Rajasthan, they seemed pretty clueless when they had to play with five out-and-out bowlers, and none of them could perform.
MI's harsh defeat vs RR
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal set the tempo in the game where the Royals thrashed the Mumbai Indians. The duo had an opening stand of 80 runs in just 30 balls, with the headline moment coming when Sooryavanshi tonked Jasprit Bumrah for sixes.
Despite fielding Trent Boult, Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Ghazanfar and Hardik Pandya himself, MI found themselves wondering. Eventually, RR finished their 11-over innings on 150/3, and the pressure was already mounting on MI.
The Hardik Pandya-led unit had one of the worst starts, losing one wicket after another. It seemed like dawn in the game for Mumbai as they were at 46/5 after five overs, but the partnership between Sherfane Rutherford and Naman Dhir (47 off 17) saved them from embarrassment.
Nevertheless, the joint-most IPL team will next be seen in action against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Wankhede on Sunday.
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