IPL Auction 2022, MI analysis: Mumbai Indians lurk and then pounce to lay base for next decade – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

The IPL 2022 auction witnessed unprecedented scenes when Jofra Archer’s name came up for grabs. Mumbai Indians had saved up until that point to evidently splurge on the England quick despite his unavailability for the 2022 season. A desperate Rajasthan Royals made a valiant attempt to bid for Archer, and when they realised Mumbai were hell bent on getting him, Kumar Sangakkara, the team director of Rajasthan Royals, playfully egged on other franchises to raise the price of the quick.

The Archer bid was closely followed by Mumbai making another splurge on Tim David, the trending Singapore-born batter, whose T20 credentials have washed the shores of Australia, West Indies, England and Pakistan so far. While he was in the mix at Royal Challengers Bangalore last season, David could be a regular starter at Mumbai Indians.

The whopping, record-breaking bid for Ishan Kishan (INR 15.25 crores) and these two bids hint at Mumbai’s strategy for the auction: they wanted to build a core group for the next five years and was prepared to play the waiting game. Mumbai largely managed to succeed in their aim, notably also investing INR 3 crores on Dewald Brevis, the Under-19 star player dubbed ‘Baby AB’ for his batting style that’s very reminiscent of AB de Villiers. The wait game saw them retain a large chunk of their purse for the end, helping them outbid the rest for Archer and David.

Mumbai Indians squad:

Batters: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard (o), Tilak Verma, Ramandeep Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Aryan Juyal

Wicketkeepers: Ishan Kishan, Anmolpreet Singh

Spinners: Mayank Markande, Murugan Ashwin

Fast bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Basil Thampi, Riley Meredith (o), Jofra Archer (o), Tymal Mills (o)

Spin-bowling all-rounders: Tim David (o), Dewald Brevis (o), Sanjay Yadav, Hrithik Shokeen, Fabian Allen (o)

Fast-bowling all-rounders: Daniel Sams (o), Arjun Tendulkar, Mohammad Arshad Khan

Strong area

The group of overseas players are among the best in the league with important future investments spread across different categories. The pace bowling attack, on paper, is top-notch with Bumrah backed up by Tymal Mills, Riley Meredith and Daniel Sams. But there’s a slight concern here which we will come to later. Mumbai have backup overseas players for each slot making their first choice overseas players very flexible.

Despite the challenges of the mega auction, Mumbai also managed to win back a big chunk of their first-choice playing XI from the last couple of years. Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard were retained while Ishan Kishan was bought back at a record price to keep the batting group intact. While they added more firepower to it, at the heart of it all, Mumbai Indians remain similar to what they have been.

Area of concern

The big area of concern for them is the lack of a frontline Indian quick who can complement Bumrah. While they bid vehemently for Avesh Khan, Mumbai let go of too many budget options like Kartik Tyagi, Arzan Nagwaswalla and Darshan Nalkande. Eventually, they had to settle down on Jaydev Unadkat and Basil Thampi with a few others for company. Although they made up for the lack of solid Indian quicks with their stunning overseas buys, Mumbai will rue not having more options up their sleeve.

Best buy: Tim David for 8.25 crores

Worst buy: None

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