Mumbai Indians
The four-time Indian Premier League champions - Mumbai Indians are all geared to defend their title after recruiting seven players from the auction on Thursday in Kolkata which included the likes of Australia’s Chris Lynn and Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Lynn was roped in for INR 2 crores while Coulter-Nile returned to Mumbai for INR 8 crores. Mumbai, overall, brought seven players while spending INR 11.2 crores
"We have identified the seven slots we wanted to fill. Some of the buys are steals at base prices. Saurabh has been with us, and the last three scores he has for us as fifties. To release players is the most difficult part of the IPL. We were champions and we traded 12 players because of injuries. We did it to give the players more playing time in other franchises. It was very difficult letting go of them and would want to wish them the best going forward," said Mumbai’s Aakash Ambani after the auction.
Before the auction, Mumbai Indians retained players which were part of their core team from past few years like Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah and Krunal Pandya. The Mumbai franchise is known for doing some smart business while trading players mid-season and this time they acquired the services of premium fast bowler Trent Boult from Delhi Capitals.
Mumbai Indians are the only IPL franchise to won four IPL trophies and all of them came under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, who is considered as one of sharpest brains in world cricket. They won the title in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019. After Mumbai, the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings have three IPL trophies in their cabinet.
Being the defending champions and one of the most consistent sides, Mumbai Indians have a huge fan base and during the auction, they always kept in mind to go for the kill.
They have a very balanced side which consists of many T20 specialists in all the three departments. In batting Rohit, Quinton de Kock and Surya Kumar Yadav are a very strong top 3 for any team. In bowling, they have the two best T20 bowlers in Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga, while the inclusion of Boult will strengthen the team more. In Pandya brothers, they have two players who can smash any bowler out of the park and get you some crucial wickets with the ball.
PLAYERS RETAINED: Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Surya Kumar Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Anmolpreet Singh, Jayant Yadav, Aditya Tare, Anukul Roy, Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mohsin Khan, Dijvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Sherfane Rutherford
PLAYERS TRADED IN: Trent Boult, Dhawal Kulkarni
PLAYERS RELEASED: Evin Lewis, Adam Milne, Jason Behrendorff, Beuran Hendricks, Ben Cutting, Yuvraj Singh, Barinder Sran, Rasikh Salam, Pankaj Jaswal, Alzarri Joseph.
PLAYERS BOUGHT: Mohsin Khan, Dijvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Sherfane Rutherford
FULL SQUAD: Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Surya Kumar Yadav, Rahul Chahar, Anmolpreet Singh, Jayant Yadav, Aditya Tare, Anukul Roy, Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mohsin Khan, Dijvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Sherfane Rutherford, Trent Boult and Dhawal Kulkarni
