Released players: Lasith Malinga, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mitchell McClenaghan, James Pattinson, Sherfane Rutherford, Digvijay Deshmukh, Prince Balwant Rai.
Retained Players: Rohit Sharma, Aditya Tare, Anmolpreet Singh, Anukul Roy, Dhawal Kulkarni, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Jasprit Bumrah, Jayant Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Quinton de Kock, Rahul Chahar, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Mohsin Khan
Remaining purse: 15.35 crore.
IPL 2020 champions, Mumbai Indians have released 7 players ahead of the IPL 2021 auction. Among those released, there were five overseas players which include quality foreign players and 1 all-rounder. After the retirement of Lasith Malinga, Mumbai have surprisingly released Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Pattinson and Mitchell McClenaghan ahead of this year auctions. Going into the auction, the five-time IPL champions will need to address some areas.
Looking at the current team combination of MI, one thing is very clear that they will need quality pace bowlers to fill the shoes of the released players. Apart from that they would also be eying to include an all-rounder for the season in order to give some variety.
Let’s have a look at 3 players Mumbai Indians might target at this year auction.
Mitchell Starc
After a wait of 6 long years, Mitchell Starc looks all but certain to make his IPL comeback. Mumbai Indians, who are in dire need of overseas pacers, would definitely like to go all guns blazing for him. They have a purse of Rs 15.35 crore left with them and can easily spend 7-8 crore on the Aussie quickie given the quality pace bowling skills he exhibits.
Starc, who has not been a part of IPL since 2015 has till now bagged 34 wickets in 27 matches he has played for RCB. The last time he entered the IPL auction, was in the edition 2018, when he was roped in by Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping Rs 9.4 crore. How-ever he could not take part due to injury. Mumbai Indians would by all means like to have a go at him.
Pawan Negi
Mumbai Indians would be eying to have an experienced backup option for Krunaal Pandya. Pawan Negi, who was released by RCB, will be one of the best options available for them right now. In 2018, Negi was also part of MI as they had spent 1 crore for him. The Indian all-rounder was taken back to RCB after they used their Right to Match (RTM) card to retain his services in the franchize.
Jhye Richardson
Jhye Richardson, Australian right-arm pacer is expected to make his IPL debut this editon. Richardson, is probably in the form of his life and has took 26 wickets in the ongoing Big Bash League edition. His performance in the BBL is expected to draw him an IPL contract and MI could be one of the teams which might bid for him.
Mumbai would want their winning streak to continue this edition as well and picking a balanced team would be their topmost priority.
