IPL Mega Auction 2022: Mumbai Indians may go big for Ishan, Boult, Chahar and Ashwin

IPL MI Team 2022 Players List: For a franchise like Mumbai Indians (MI) retention of a core group over the years had served them wonderfully well.

The Rohit Sharma-led MI has dominated Indian Premier League (IPL) in recent years and have won the coveted trophy five times. MI retained Rohit Sharma (16 crore), Jasprit Bumrah (12 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (8 crore), and Kieron Pollard (6 crore).

MI built their success on stability and while they still have four core members, their focus will be on trying to first build their best XI before they go looking for the other variables. With no wicketkeeper-batter in the mix – MI will be in the market and might bring back Quinton de Kock and Ishan in the fold.

They will have their eye on Trent Boult, who has had great success for them in the past few seasons. Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar was also a key performer, and to add another spinner, they might go for the experienced Ravichandran Ashwin, who can be a match-winner even in the shortest format on Indian pitches.

Here are five players Mumbai Indians might go for in the IPL auction:

Trent Boult (Base Price: Rs 2 crore): Few though can match Boult in his wide repertoire of skills. The Kiwi pacer can swing the ball, can seam, he is quick and is deadly accurate. When neither swing nor swing works, he torments batsmen with angles by manipulating the crease and release points. With 76 wickets in 62 IPL games, the New Zealand speedster is one of the best bowler in the tournament and had developed a deadly combination with Jasprit Bumrah.

Trent Boult (IPL)

Ishan Kishan (Base Price: Rs 2 crore): MI will do their level best to get back Ishan Kishan and that will come at a cost. The swashbuckling keeper-batter has been another integral member of the MI team. Ishan Kishan has amassed 1,452 runs in 61 IPL games with a healthy strike rate of 136.33, including nine fifties.

Ishan Kishan.

Rahul Chahar (Base Price: Rs 75 crore): MI showed confidence in Rahul Chahar and gave him 13 of the 16 matches they played in 2019. There is no dearth of talent in the young leg-spinner and he surely proved that in the 2020 season scalping 15 wickets, and 13 wickets in 11 games. Captain Rohit Sharma had used him in the powerplay and he proved that he could do the difficult job too.

Rahul Chahar

R Ashwin (Base Price: Rs 2 crore): There was a time when it was said that Ravichandran Ashwin is past his best with the white ball. Of late, however, he has gone from strength to strength in Test cricket but has also shown that his white-ball prowess hasn’t diminished. R Ashwin burst into the scene with his brilliant performances for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. The wily off-spinner has 145 wickets in 167 matches.

Ravichandran Ashwin (File)

Raj Angad Bawa (Base Price: Rs 20 lakh): With Hardik Pandy moving out from the MI fold and his departure has opened up an all-round spot in the team. Who better than India U-19 World Cup-winning all-rounder Raj Angad Bawa. The youngster has set the 2022 U-19 World Cup on fire. He bagged nine wickets in the tournament, including a fifer in the final against England, it was the best bowling performance in the U-19 final. Bawa also scored 245 runs in the tournament, including a 108-ball unbeaten 162 against Uganda, he surpassed Shikhar Dhawan’s 155 against Scotland in 2004 as the highest score by an Indian at a U-19 World Cup.

Raj Angad Bawa