‘One of the worst auctions they ever had’ - Brad Hogg baffled with Mumbai Indians’ strategy at IPL 2022 mega auction

Having won the Indian Premier League (IPL) title a record five times, Mumbai Indians were one of the franchises to watch out for in the recently-concluded IPL 2022 mega auction. MI had a purse of INR 48 crore as they retained the likes of Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah. While MI were known to make smart purchases at the auction, their strategy this season left the cricket world baffled.

The Nita-Ambani owned franchise was laregly inactive on the first day of the event and picked several uncapped players later to make amends. The five-time champions spent half of their purse on purchasing Ishan Kishan for a whooping INR 15.25 crore and Jofra Archer for INR 8 crore. Notably, Archer won’t even feature in IPL 2022 due to fitness issues and would be available from the next season onwards.

Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg is among many to criticize MI’s tactics at the event. “Spending 8Cr on Archer is a huge risk, especially after spending 15 crore on Ishan Kishan. He’s had two elbow surgeries in the last 18 months, that’s the worst injury a fast bowler could have,” said Hogg on his YouTube channel.

Mumbai Indians don’t have depth in their bowling: Brad Hogg

“They have a formidable top order in Rohit, Kishan and Surya and then David at No.4, which is also a risk. Who’s going to bat at No.5 is the big question. The bowling department is where their headache starts. They don’t have depth in their bowling and not many top class spinners. They also don’t have finishers like the Pandya brothers. This is one of the worst auctions MI has ever had,” he added.

Meanwhile, IPL 2022 is expected to get underway in the last week of March. This season’s tournament will be a grand affair with two new sides – Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans – coming into the picture. It will also be interesting to see how MI fares with the new squad.

Mumbai Indians squad for IPL 2022: Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishan Kishan, Dewald Brevis, Basil Thampi, M Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Mayank Markande, Tilak Varma, Sanjay Yadav, Riley Meredith, Mohd Arshad Khan, Anmolpreet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Rahul Buddhi, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Aryan Juyal, Fabian Allen