The most successful team (5 times winner) MI miserably failed to secure their position in the top 4 in the last edition of the IPL. Mumbai Indians have a good record in IPL auction history as they made a balanced team every season. MI auction strategy for IPL 2022 Mega Auction would be to primarily to retain their last season’s squad and then target some young talents. If they will be unable to retain their regular players then they would go for further options to replace them. It is predicted that the MI 2022 squad will be somewhat similar to their existing one. See IPL 2022 MI target players.
MI retained players 2022
𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 मुंबई. 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 मुंबई. 💙
Ladies & gentlemen, the retained ones! 😎🔥#OneFamily #MumbaiIndians #IPLretention @ImRo45 @Jaspritbumrah93 @KieronPollard55 @surya_14kumar pic.twitter.com/MEuapRJ9O6
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) November 30, 2021
According to retention rule, MI managed to retain only 4 players ahead of IPL 2022 from their squad. MI retained their skipper Rohit Sharma(16 cr), attacking middle-order batsman Surya Kumar Yadav(8cr), Caribbean All-rounder Kieron Pollard(6 cr), and Indian speed-star Jasprit Bumrah(8 cr). Mumbai Indians have only 48 crores to pick players from the upcoming Mega Auction.
Mumbai Indians’ Strategy in the Upcoming IPL Mega Auction 2022
The team management will enter the auction room again with the plan to make a balanced squad for the upcoming season. Now take a look at what would be the strategy of MI in the mega auction. Mumbai Indians’ management will try to build their MI squad 2022 just like their last one.
Mumbai Indians’ target players – Wicket-keeper
As MI released both wicket keepers Quinton De Kock and Ishan Kishan, it is clear that they are hunting for a wicketkeeper, preferably one who can also bat at the top order. Mumbai Indians will definitely try to bring back Ishan Kishan in the auction as he has a fantastic record in the Mumbai Indian’s jersey. It was also shocking that the management picked Suryakumar Yadav over Ishan Kishan. However it is clear that MI will not let this youngster go out of their hands so easily. He can play as an opening batsman as well as a middle-order batsman in the team. But the rest of the teams will also try to get their hands on this player. In that case, MI might target Mohammed Azharuddin for IPL 2022. He was released by Royal Challengers Bangalore last year. His performance in domestic cricket is quite impressive as he scored 600 runs in just 18 games since his T20 debut in the year 2016. He is a middle-order batsman who batted most of the time at no.4.
Mumbai Indians’ target players – Batsman
As far as the middle order is concerned, with Saurabh Tiwary, Ishan Kishan, and Pandya brothers are not being there, MI has got a lot to think about when it comes to building a promising team for the next 3 seasons. MI might target South African batsman Aiden Markram who was surprisingly released by PBKS. This 27-year-old South African hard hitter smashed 146 runs in just 6 matches with a strike rate of 122.68. He carried his form into the T20 World Cup also. He can be a good option for MI in the middle order.
If we take look into the domestic level cricket, Abhinav Manohar is one of the rising stars. He played for the team Karnataka where he smashed 162 with a strike rate of 150. Mumbai Indians might target this domestic level cricketer who has a good ability to score quick runs in the death overs and, predictably, they will get him at a low price.
After releasing their two openers, Australian Chris Lynn and South-African Wicketkeeper Batsman Quinton De Kock, MI is looking for a perfect opening partner of Rohit Sharma. In the case of opening batsman, Jason Roy might be their best choice. This English batsman likely plays with the strike rate of 140 in franchise-based cricket as well as in T20I. He is a player who has the ability to build up the innings.
Apart from these batsmen, there are many options in the auction for Mumbai Indians like Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, and Shimron Hetmyer.
Mumbai Indians’ target players – All Rounder
MI already has Pollard in their team but for another seam-bowling all-rounder, they might pick Ben Stokes. Ben Stokes is undoubtedly the best all-rounder in the current situation. This English all-rounder played with a strike rate of 136.84 and with the ball he is very economical and a wicket-taker also. He is one of those players in the IPL history who smashed a century in a match. But picking Stokes would be a gamble because he has been away from cricket for quite a long time.
They could also pick Sam Curran in this mega auction. Last year due to his injury this 23-year-old English all-rounder did not play in the UAE leg. In the first leg, he took 9 wickets in 9 games and scored 156 runs. Sam Curran might be very expensive in the auction as every team wants this rare kind of talent who can open with both bat and ball. In the 2020 edition of IPL Sam Curran played for CSK at the opening position as well as a middle-order and lower-order batsman. Mitchell Marsh might be their other choice as he can bat at no.3 and he can bowl some overs too. He was one of the heroes for Australia in the final of World T20 2021.
Mumbai Indians’ target players – Bowlers
Mumbai Indians released experienced bowlers like Trent Boult, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Dhawal Kulkarni, and promising youngster Rahul Chahar. MI needs to be more calculative and sensitive in the case of picking bowlers. Mumbai Indians might bring back their former players like Rahul Chahar and kiwi left-arm seamer, Trent Boult. The management was compelled to let these two players go. Mumbai Indians might show interest in the DC player Avesh Khan. Avesh Khan, the second-highest wicket last year, was released by Delhi Capitals. Avesh Khan can bowl in the powerplay and death overs also. He could be Bumrah’s perfect partner in the death overs. . MI might look into CSK’s Josh Hazlewood who picked 11 wickets in 9 games last season and Afghan Spinner Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, who was released by PBKS, did exceptionally well in the UAE leg of the league and also carried this form into the WT20 2021. The team might consider him as a replacement for leggie Rahul Chahar.
