IPL: 5 Players Mumbai Indians regret for not retaining

Team management is quite a tough job and especially in a tournament like the IPL with no fixed retention policy it becomes even tougher. In a tournament which is a perfect mixture of cricket and entertainment, it’s quite hard to understand the dynamics of IPL auctions and building a team with a limited budget is not an easy job.

Mumbai Indians are one of the most successful franchise in IPL and the three-time champions are known for their smart cricketing decisions both on and off the field. But humans are known for making mistakes and the management of Mumbai Indians did commit some big blunders at the auction table and rued it later.

Here are 5 players Mumbai Indians regretted not retaining

1. Jos Buttler

An explosive batsman who can bat anywhere in the batting order along with his excellent wicket keeping skills makes Jos Buttler one of the most sought in limited overs format. The English wicketkeeper-batsman was bought by the Mumbai Indians team ahead of the 9th season of IPL in 2016. In his first year with the Mumbai side, the 28-year-old was not given a fixed batting position and despite getting some impressive starts he failed to play a match-defining innings for the team. The next year was also not good for him as he failed to perform consistently.

With Buttler failing to live up to his international stature in the IPL, the Mumbai Indians decided against retaining him in 2018 and he was subsequently bought by the Rajasthan Royals team in the IPL auction. He was initially used by the Rajasthan team in the middle overs in 2018 but he was clearly struggling gainst the spinners in spin friendly Jaipur pitches.

The Rajasthan team was also performing badly in the season having won just 3 off their 8 matches. The team management then decided to promote Jos Buttler as an opener and it completely changed the team’s fortune as the Englishman scored five consecutive fifties and helped the Royals to reach the playoffs. He has continued his good form in 2019 so far and will be a key member for the team in the coming seasons.