The Mumbai Indians (MI) had done most of their heavy lifting before the auction, using up Rs 75 crore of their total purse on retaining five players. Rohit Sharma, former captain, Hardik Pandya, the current leader, Suryakumar Yadav – India’s T20 captain – Jasprit Bumrah and Tilak Varma all stayed, meaning that the auction focus was very much on the foreign contingent and finding bowlers to supplement Bumrah’s sublime skills.
“We had four of our top 7 in place already, just needed to fill a couple of slots with the right complimentary players,” said Akash Ambani, the team owner, after the two days in Jeddah. “We focused a lot in this auction on getting our bowling combination right and I think we have achieved that at the end of two days of auction.”
HITS
Though he’s 35, bringing back Trent Boult could be an inspired move. Back in 2020, he enjoyed his best IPL season in MI colours, taking 25 wickets from 15 games at an economy rate under 8. With Deepak Chahar, once MS Dhoni’s go-to new-ball bowler, also drafted in, MI potentially have a new-ball attack that could hoop it around corners in most conditions, leaving Bumrah to do his damage in the second half of the innings. Chahar has played just 18 games in the last three years though, and keeping him fit will be of paramount importance. MI have also taken a punt on Afghanistan’s Allah Ghazanfar, who could be the next mystery spinner to keep an eye on.
MISSES
There was a time when Lasith Malinga and Kieron Pollard were cornerstones of MI’s title-winning sides. The present overseas contingent lacks that quality. Ghazanfar, South Africa’s Ryan Rickelton and New Zealand’s Bevan-John Jacobs have not played in the IPL before, while Will Jacks, Reece Topley and Lizaad Williams have barely made a dent in the competition. Boult has vast experience, and so does Mitchell Santner, but the rest have plenty to prove. They may not need to go spin-heavy at the Wankhede, but at other venues, the slow-bowling back-up for Santner and Ghazanfar doesn’t inspire much confidence either.
Overall Rating: 7/10
Mumbai were always going to be hamstrung at the auction on account of having spent nearly two-thirds of their budget to retain their stars. But they’ve still managed to bring in a new-ball pairing who could be lethal on their home turf, and a young spinner who could potentially make the sort of impact that Rashid Khan did nearly a decade ago. Jacobs is only 22, but his big-hitting prowess has already caught the eye in New Zealand, while Jacks struck at over 175 in the eight games he played for Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Pandya will surely have a more impactful season this time, with the captaincy furore having died down, and Bumrah appears to be better than ever. If Rohit can play as freely as he did in the two white-ball World Cups, MI certainly have the weapons to make a play-off push. To go further and claim that elusive sixth title, however, will need some serious contributions from that untested foreign pack.
Squad
Batters: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Bevan-John Jacobs.
All-rounders: Hardik Pandya, Naman Dhir, Will Jacks, Raj Angad Bawa, Karn Sharma, Mitchell Santner, Vignesh Puthur.
Pace bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, Lizaad Williams, Reece Topley, Ashwani Kumar, Satyanarayana Raju, Arjun Tendulkar.
Wicketkeepers: Robin Minz, Ryan Rickelton, Shrijith Krishnan.
Spinners: Allah Ghazanfar.