After finishing at the bottom of the points table in the IPL 2022 – their worst-ever IPL result – the Mumbai Indians’ squad looks in much better health courtesy of their work at the IPL 2023 auction and before it.
They started the IPL 2023 auction with a bang, securing the 23-year-old Australian all-rounder Cameron Green for a whopping INR 17.5 crore price, making Green the second-most expensive player of all time in the IPL, after Punjab Kings’ acquisition of Sam Curran.
But it is in the bowling department that Mumbai Indians needed work after a disastrous IPL 2022.
They had released Daniel Sam, Riley Meredith, Tymal Mills, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Murugan Ashwin, and Basil Thampi, and traded in Jason Behrendorff from RCB, bought Jhye Richardson, Duan Jansen, and Piyush Chawla the IPL 2023 auction.
They will also be hoping to have both Jofra Archer and Jasprit Bumrah fit for the IPL 2023; Archer has recently been named in England’s ODI squad to tour South Africa, where he will also play for MI Cape Town in SA20.
MI Players bought in IPL 2023 auction: Cameron Green (INR 17.5 crore), Jhye Richardson (INR 1.5 crore), Piyush Chawla (INR 50 lakh), Duan Jansen (INR 20 lakh), Vishnu Vinod (INR 20 lakh), Shams Mulani (INR 20 lakh), Nehal Wadhera (INR 20 lakh), Raghav Goyal (INR 20 lakh).
Mumbai Indians best XI after IPL 2023 auction:
Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Cameron Green, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Tristan Stubbs, Jofra Archer, Hrithik Shokeen, Piyush Chawla/Kumar Kartikeya, Jasprit Bumrah
MI have a problem of plenty in their overseas department, with 7 out of 8 overseas players making strong cases to be in the starting XI. Among Indians, you could see Arjun Tendulkar, the seam-bowling all-rounder, making his IPL debut next year.
In Chawla, they have roped in an experienced spinner which they lacked last season. MI’s batting looks solid, but if they want to play Cameron Green, he has to bat in the top three and be given the license to go after the bowling. On pace-friendly surfaced, MI could bring in either Richardson or Behrendorff for Green of Stubbs/Brevis.
MI’s batting was solid from last season, and now they have strengthened their bowling too. It won’t be a far-fetched though to think, Rohit Sharma’s side will once again be at the top of the IPL and will bounce back strongly.
Mumbai Indians Full squad:
Openers: Rohit Sharma
Middle order: Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma
Wk: Ishan Kishan, Tristan Stubbs, Vishnu Vinod
All-rounders: Cameron Green, Arjun Tendulkar, Ramandeep Singh, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Hritik Shokeen, Arshad Khan, Duan Jansen
Spinners: Piyush Chawla, Kumar Kartikeya, Raghav Goyal
Fast bowlers: Jasprit Bumrah, Jofra Archer, Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, Akash Madhwal
