Defending champions Mumbai Indians had a very unusual IPL auction, as most fans feel that their side lacked the depth and quality from previous MI squads.
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MI have always had one of the best squads in the league, as other teams would always envy Mumbai’s strength in depth.
Heading into the auction, Mumbai had already retained skipper Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah. The trio formed a world class core, and MI needed some high quality additions to create a formidable squad.
But the auction did not go as planned for the Mumbai franchise, as they missed out on a couple of good Indians players for their side.
This is the MI squad at the end of the auction.
Rohit Sharma (retained 15 crore), Hardik Pandya (retained 11 crore), Jasprit Bumrah (retained 7 crore), Kieron Pollard (5.4 crore, RTM), Mustafizur Rahman (2.2 crore), Pat Cummins (5.4 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (3.2 crore), Krunal Pandya (8.8 crore, RTM), Ishan Kishan (6.2 crore), Rahul Chahar (1.9 crore), Evin Lewis (3.8 crore), Saurabh Tiwary (80 lakh), Ben Cutting (2.2 crore), Pradeep Sangwan (1.5 crore), JP Duminy (1 crore), Jason Behrendoff (1.5 crore), Tajinder Dhillaon (55 lakh), Sharad Lumba (20 lakh), Siddhesh Lad (20 lakh), Aditya Tare (20 lakh), Mayank Markande (20 lakh), Akila Dananjaya (50 lakh), Anukul Roy (20 lakh), Anukul Roy (20 lakh), MD Nidheesh (20 lakh)
While the squad is littered with world class players, there are many players who are past their best and would not fit into many T20 teams in the world right now.
The likes of JP Duminy, Suryakumar Yadav, Keiron Pollard and Saurabh Tiwary were good T20 players a few years back, but are no longer the sort of players that you need right now.
Mumbai did well to bring in the explosive Evin Lewis, the versatile Ben Cutting and the highly talented Mustafizur Rahman, as well as retaining the services of Krunal Pandya. Provided all four stay fit they, along with the retained trio, will form a brilliant spine.
WEAKNESS
But their batting is light, and there is a lot of reliance on skipper Rohit Sharma. Mumbai will need Lewis to fire this season, as the West Indian will be important in taking the pressure of MI’s best batsman.
With a power packed pace bowling unit, MI may feel they missed a trick as they could have reinvested some of that money into their batting. The likes of Mustafizur and Cummins will partner Bumrah, and will be expected to blow other teams away.
Let’s see what MI have in store for us!
