Team-wise best and worst buys of all time in IPL auction history

2. Mumbai Indians (MI)

Best Buy: Rohit Sharma

Noting Rohit Sharma’s fearless batting style for Deccan Chargers from 2008-10, Mumbai Indians (MI) signed him at INR 9.2 crore in the 2011 mega auction. For the first two years, he played as a batter for the franchise and delivered some fine performances. However, in 2013, the team management assigned him the role of a skipper too after Ponting’s poor captaincy in the season. Making his captaincy debut, Sharma looked confident and delivered the first title to the franchise with his leadership skills.

With the bat too, he made the season his best in the history of the league, notching up 538 runs in 19 matches, at a strike rate of 131.54.  So far, the veteran has bagged five trophies as a skipper captaining ten seasons for the franchise. Scoring 4,709 runs for the franchise in 182 IPL matches at a strike rate of 129.51, Sharma has established himself as the most reliable batter in the team.

Worst Buy: Ricky Ponting

In 2013, former Australia legend Ricky Ponting became a part of Mumbai Indians at the mini-auction. Going through his incredible record as a skipper and batter for his national team, the franchise bought him at INR 2.1 crore. MI appointed Ponting as their skipper trusting his leadership abilities. However, the Aussie legend struggled with the bat scoring only 52 runs in six matches, at an extremely poor strike rate of 69.33. As a captain too, he left the team in trouble with three victories and three defeats at a horrible net run rate (NRR).