MI finished at the 10th spot in IPL 2022 with 10 losses and 4 wins.
There were many surprises as the MI franchise had decided to let go of two of its pillars in Hardik and Krunal Pandya ahead of the IPL 2022 auction and had also parted ways with Ishan Kishan.
They did buy back Ishan Kishan in the auction, for a hefty price of INR 15.25 crores. Another big buy in the auction was Tim David for INR 8.25 crores, while young tilak Varma, the U19 World Cup winner was picked for INR 1.7 crores.
MI also splurged on Jofra Archer, who was not to play in IPL 2022 due to recovering from his elbow surgery, for INR 8 crores, which surprised many. However, many felt that MI lacked the bowling power of yesteryears, especially with the retirement of Lasith Malinga.
MI didn’t have an experienced spinner on their side, while the Indian fast bowlers were not of the quality that could support Bumrah, as Malinga did. The likes of Basil Thampi, Jaydev Unadkat, Arshad Khan, etc were not up to the mark.
Foreign recruitments included young Dewald Brevis, Riley Meredith, Daniel Sams, Tymal Mills, and others.
However, MI started off poorly losing all 8 of their starting matches in the league stage, and finished at the bottom of the points table at no. 10 with 4 wins in 14 matches.
Therefore, Team COC presents to you the three players who MI might release ahead of the IPL 2023 auction.
JAYDEV UNADKAT
But whenever he was given a chance, he couldn’t manage to perform at the level that was expected of him. One such instance was in the encounter between MI and Chennai Super Kings (CSK), in which he was unable to defend 17 runs in the last over as MS Dhoni smashed him for two fours and one six to take CSK to the win.
Then, against Punjab Kings, he was smashed for 23 runs in the 18th over by Jitesh Sharma who hit him for two sixes and two fours.
Unadkat picked 6 wickets in 5 matches he played, but at an economy of 9.50 and with poor performances like this from an experienced bowler, he might not be retained by MI for IPL 2023.
TYMAL MILLS
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But MI decided to give Mills another go after his impressive performances in various franchise leagues. However, the left-armer proved to be a lot expensive for almost no wickets to show.
Mills picked 6 wickets in 5 matches but gave runs at an economy of 11.17 and then got injured and was replaced by the MI franchise.
With yet another unimpressive outing in the IPL, MI most likely will release him before IPL 2023.
KIERON POLLARD
However, IPL 2022 proved to be his most abysmal season after IPL 2011 where he had scored 146 runs in 16 matches. Here in the IPL 2022, he made 144 runs in 11 matches at a strike rate of 107.46 with a best of 25.
However, MI backed him to get his form back and kept playing him even at the cost of benching the young and talented Tim David, who played just 2 matches at the beginning. However, Pollard was then dropped from the team due to his poor outings, with MI bringing in Tim David.
It remains to be seen whether MI retain Pollard for IPL 2023, especially now when they have a worthy successor in Tim David to take over his spot as the finisher.