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Mumbai Indians spent Rs 23 crore on Ishan Kishan, Jofra Archer in IPL Auction; Sanjay Manjrekar explains why

Mumbai Indians played a waiting game for a long time and let go of several big players in the IPL 2022 Mega Auction before they bought India wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan and England pace sensation Jofra Archer.

Manjrekar decodes MIs strategy

Bengaluru, February 13: Mumbai Indians played a waiting game for a long time and let go of several big players in the IPL 2022 Mega Auction before they bought India wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan and England pace sensation Jofra Archer.

While Ishan Kishan (bought at Rs 15.25 crore) was the most expensive buy for Mumbai, and also of the season, on Day 1 of the auction the five-time champions remained inactive for a long time before Archer's name came at the table. Archer is likely to miss this edition of the IPL, still, MI owner Aakash Ambani made a bid of Rs 8 crore to buy the services of the English quick keeping the future in mind.

Former Team Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar while breaking down Mumbai Indians' plans strategy to spend Rs 23 crore on Ishan Kishan and Jofra Archer alone in the auction, said on Star Sports, "Mouthwatering prospect, two high-quality bowlers and then Jofra Archer is just a brilliantly gifted bowler and he's done it in the IPL before. He's your 'super over' bowler, in fact, there might be a fight between the two as to who will bowl the super over. But the mystery has been unravelled - why was Mumbai Indians so cautious and bailing out - because 23 crores were spent on two players - Ishan Kishan and Jofra Archer."

Manjrekar added further, "Jofra Archer was a real suspect, who would've thought who would think like this? That this is a guy who's not available this season, but they knew if we bid for him now, you can get him at a very cheap price for 2023 and 2024 but half the purse spent on two players and hence the caution with the others. As a result, we are not looking at a star-studded Mumbai Indians team, normally you see some big names in that team, but they made a lot of compromises to get Ishan and Jofra."

Former Team Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra also claimed that Mumbai Indians' decision to purchase Archer caught others off guard.

Chopra said on Star Sports, "They caught a lot of people off guard with regards to their strategy. Everybody thought that eventually, they'll have to move, "Come on Mumbai, now make a move!" They went for a lot of players, but they never went the whole yard and bought them. So, it was surprising. Personally, they would never be happy with a season where they have not won the trophy or have not given their best to win a trophy. They don't like to be the second-best team in a league of eight, now it's a league of ten, so it'll be even tougher now to win the trophy as compared to the past.

"So, I'm surprised, I'm intrigued and I'm looking forward to seeing how this team actually pans out because Tim David, I rate him very highly. But, Jofra Archer, injury concerns, next year if he is not available, of course, you're thinking for the future but what about the present? This is an interesting auction buy."

Story first published: Sunday, February 13, 2022, 20:14 [IST]
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