IPL Auction 2021 – Mumbai Indians Rohit Sharma’s message: With seven slots left and a small purse of Rs 15.35 crore, defending champions Mumbai Indians will have to play their cards smartly at the auction on February 18 (Thursday). The MI team management had their final discussions with skipper Rohit Sharma and head coach Mahela Jayawardene ahead of the ‘mini-auction. One of the discussions they had during the zoom meeting was about the best overseas bowling options available for grabs.
“The management has just finished its zoom meeting with Rohit and Mahela. They discussed the best possible overseas bowling options,” a source on condition of anonymity said.
IPL auction 2021- Mumbai Indians: Who can Mumbai Indians sign at the IPL auction?
Mumbai Indians
Retained Players: Rohit Sharma, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Quinton de Kock, Rahul Chahar, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Mohsin Khan
Released Players: Prince Balwant Rai, Digvijay Deshmukh, Lasith Malinga, Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson, Sherfane Rutherford, Mitchell McCleneghan
There are three gaps Mumbai would want to plug more than any other. The most pressing of them is to get at least one, if not two, overseas fast bowler. The four-time champions had released James Pattinson and Nathan Coulter-Nile, which leaves them just one quickie in Trent Boult. They would also look for a backup for wrist-spinner Rahul Chahar, who struggled in IPL 2020 and was benched in the finals.
Jhye Richardson will be on MI’s radar. A promising fast bowler from Australia he had a great Big Bash League season. Following his BBL heroics, he was called into Australian T20I side for the tour of New Zealand. He was the highest wicket-taker in BBL with 29 wickets for Perth Scorchers. Jason Behrendoff and Riley Meredith would be other possible targets for the Mumbai-based franchise.
First XI: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Quinton de Kock, 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Ishan Kishan, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Kieron Pollard, 8 Rahul Chahar, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 An overseas fast bowler
Potential picks: Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Jason Behrendoff, Kyle Jamieson, Nathan-Coulter Nile, Arjun Tendulkar