Mumbai Indians had a rather uneventful auction ahead of the 14th season of the Indian Premier League, where they roped in seven players which included a spot for Arjun Tendulkar, the son of legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, and with Nathan Coulter-Nile returning to the squad after being released.
Having released the pacer ahead of the auction, Mumbai, who failed to go big on Chris Morris and Jhye Richardson in a bid to fill the gap left by the departure of Lasith Malinga, MI bought back Coulter-Nile for INR 5 crore after managing to add New Zealand's Adam Milne to the squad for INR 5.4 crore. And added another all-rounder to the squad in James Neesham at his base price of INR 50 lakh. Mumbai still have Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult and Dhawal Kulkarni in the pace department.
"We are happy NCN is coming back. We have two players who've played for MI in the past coming back for us. Chawla brings in experience. This is what the whole team was looking for. He is someone who can bowl with the new ball as well. We all know how tough the IPL is. It is important the whole squad looks forward to the challenge and enjoy the process. We want to look forward now because the IPL is almost here. It is good news that the bowlers are in the limelight in the auction and are doing well. Heartening and really happy to see the bowlers and the bowling all-rounders getting the money," said team director Zaheer Khan.
They also bagged Piyush Chawla for INR 2.40 crore, Yudhvir Charak for INR 20 lakh and Marco Jensen.
Mumbai Indians Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anmolpreet Singh, Aditya Tare (wk), Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Anukul Roy, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohsin Khan
Today's buys: Adam Milne (INR 3.20 Cr), Nathan Coulter-Nile (INR 5 cr), Piyush Chawla (INR 2.40 Cr), James Neesham (INR 50 L), Yudhvir Charak (INR 20 L), Marco Jansen (INR 20 L), Arjun Tendulkar (INR 20 L)
Purse Remaining: INR 3.65 cr
Slots to fill: 1 [Overseas - 0]
