After retaining Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah, Mumbai Indians went into the Indian Premier League with Rs 47 crore remaining out of their 80 crore purse along with 2 Right to Match tickets.
All eyes were on the defending champions as they took seat no. 8 at the eighth IPL auctions for a total of 578 players including 360 Indians and 218 overseas players. Each team will have a total of 25 players, out of which only eight can be overseas players – and Mumbai had all eight options open before the auctions began.
Here’s what the Mumbai Indians squad looks like after the auctions.:
Kieron Pollard was the first player to be bought by the Mukesh Ambani-backed team. The Mumbai Indians used their Right-to-Match ticket to buy the West Indian all-rounder for Rs 5.40 crore after the bidding war saw his rates shoot up from his base price of Rs 2 crore.
After lying low for a bit, Mumbai Indians opened their post-lunch auction session by purchasing two fast bowlers – Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rehman and Australian national Pat Cummins for Rs 2.2 crore and Rs 5.4 crore, respectively.
As the auctions were held for a tea break, the Mumbai Indians got former KKR all-rounder Suryakumar Yadav for Rs. 3.2 crore before the break.
Mumbai then used their Right-to-Match to get back their prized possession Krunal Pandya for 8.8 crore rupees. They also bought un-capped player Ishan Kishan for an amount of 6.2 crore.
Day 2
As the second day of the auction began on Sunday, 28 January, the first player to be bid was young spinner Rahul Chahar, who Mumbai Indians picked at a price of Rs 1.9 crore after a bidding duel the with Rajasthan Royals.
On the second day of bidding, Mumbai Indians also managed to get Australian all-rounder Ben Cutting for Rs. 2.2 Crore and Delhi-based cricketer Pradeep Sangwan for Rs. 1.5 crore.
Mumbai also managed to get South Africa veteran JP Duminy in their squad who they got for his base price of Rs 1 crore as no one seem keen enough to sign the South African.