IPL Auction strategy: Mumbai Indians aim to strengthen reserve bench

The final list for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 auction has already been out with a total of 332 cricketers set to go under the hammer in Kolkata on December 19. While 997 players had initially registered, the final list has been made prepared after the eight franchises submitted the name of their shortlisted players. With INR 2 crore as the highest reserve price, seven overseas players – Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Dale Steyn & Angelo Mathews have opted to be slotted in the highest bracket. Robin Uthappa is the only Indian player in the Auction list with a base price of INR 1.5 crore. Other Indian stars, Piyush Chawla, Yusuf Pathan & Jaydev Unadkat have set their base price at INR 1 crore.

A total of 186 Indian players, 143 overseas players & 3 players from Associate Nations will be up for grabs in the IPL 2020 Player Auction.

In CricketNews.com we are looking at the auction strategies of all the eight teams. In this piece, we will analyse the possible plan of action of the defending champions Mumbai Indians.

List of retained players:

Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Lasith Malinga, Mitchell McCleneghan, Quinton de Kock, Rahul Chahar, Rohit Sharma, Sherfane Rutherford, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult.

List of released players:

Adam Milne, Alzarri Joseph, Barinder Sran, Ben Cutting, Beuran Hendricks, Evin Lewis, Jason Behrendorff, Pankaj Jaswal, Rasikh Dar, Yuvraj Singh.

Slots remaining: 7 (5 domestic, 2 overseas)

Purse remaining: INR 13.09 crore

Possible auction strategy:

With four trophies in their cabinet Mumbai Indians are arguably the most consistent team in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Much like their arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings, the Mumbai-based franchise too likes to keep their core group intact and in their squad the Rohit Sharma-led team has all base covered, despite releasing 10 players from their camp prior to the auction. And in order to compensate, the think-tank has already traded in Trent Boult and Windies all-rounder Sherfane Rutherford from Delhi Capitals and Dhawal Kulkarni from Rajasthan Royals.

Boult is a like-for-like replacement for injured Australian pacer Jason Behrendorff while Kulkarni is expected to be their back-up seam option in place of released Barinder Sran. And now the franchise has seven spots to fill in the auction – five locals and two overseas.

Mumbai is left with a purse of Rs 13.05 crore, lowest among all the franchises but it is enough to fulfill their aim in this auction, which primarily is to strengthen their bench strength.

Possible buys:

England and Somerset batsman Tom Banton is one of those players who are in the scheme of things of Mumbai in this year’s auction. In fact, reportedly, they have already had initial talks with Banton. Apart from him, the franchise will look for a few middle-order power-hitters – someone like Shimron Hetmeyer or David Miller.

With injuries concerns persisting over Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah, Mumbai will be keen on having proper back-up options. Hence, for an all-rounder they could be looking at Marcus Stoinis or Colin de Grandhomme. From the pool of fast bowlers, Mumbai can go for Adam Milne, Pat Cummins or Mitchell Starc.

Furthermore, as a replacement of Yuvraj, they can also bid for Robin Uthappa or Glenn Maxwell. Both of them started their IPL careers with Mumbai.

The franchise is also known for giving opportunities to rookie domestic talents. Hence, all eyes will be on their purchases from the pool of Indian uncapped players. They can bid for local boy 17-year old Yashasvi Jaiswal, who recently became the youngest cricketer to score a List A double hundred.