Two days after Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises released their comprehensive list of released and retained players, Australian cricketer Nathan Coulter-Nile admitted that he was expecting to be released by Mumbai Indians (MI) and said that he is not surprised over being released.

Coulter-Nile was bought by MI for 8 crores at the last IPL auction. Prior to his figures of 2/29 in the finals against Delhi Capitals, Coulter-Nile didn’t do any justice with performance as the former just took 5 wickets at an economy nearing 8 in the 7 matches he played.  

Nathan Coulter-Nile was one of nine Australians released by the IPL franchises including international stars Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, and Aaron Finch. 

IPL 2021: Mumbai Indians - List of players retained and released

Nathan Coulter-Nile, who made a return to BBL for the Melbourne stars after missing the last three weeks with a calf injury, conceded 19 runs in the penultimate over against Melbourne Renegades which made its easy for Renegades to chase the target of 159 as they then needed just six runs from the final over. 

Referring to the same Coulter Nile revealed his reaction to receiving the mail from his IPL franchise. 

"Yep, that was good. Just got smacked in the 19th [over], get off the field and get told I'm being flicked, get the email," ESPNCricinfo quoted Coulter-Nile as saying.

Speaking on his omission from the Mumbai Indians squad Australian pacer, Nathan Coulter-Nile, said that he was expecting this to happen. 

"I was expecting that was going to happen. They paid overs for me so I thought that was going to happen. Hopefully, I can get picked up again this year. I've got nothing else on so hopefully I can get to the IPL." he said. 

Record five-time IPL title holders, Mumbai Indians, now have 18 players in their squad with seven spots open which can be filled in the upcoming IPL 2021 mini-auction. Mumbai Indians can pick as many as four overseas players for the next season.