The ten Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises will be finalizing their required players' list as the IPL 2023 auction is to be held on December 23 in Kochi. This will be a mini-auction with 405 players going under the hammer.
One of the franchises that will be looking to plug some holes in their squad will be five-time champions Mumbai Indians, who had a poor IPL 2022 where they finished in the last spot in the points table with just 4 wins from 14 matches.
In an interesting move, MI released both of their wrist spinners in Murugan Ashwin and Mayank Markande, and former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels that the Rohit Sharma-led side will probably go for an overseas leg spinner.
"Now every IPL team needs somebody like Rashid Khan. So, they are looking for their Rashid khan or a Sunil Narine. That is where somebody like an (Adam) Zampa or an Adil Rashid can come into the equation to find the leg spinner. So, all three aspects seem okay despite their performance last season.
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So, yes a wrist spinner, they have let go of M. Ashwin, they have a history of spinners, there was Markande with them, Rahul Chahar, they should never have let him go, he has gone, so maybe an overseas spinner somebody like a Zampa or an Adil Rashid will be perfect for them,” Manjrekar said on Star Sports show 'Game Plan – Auction Special'.
Manjrekar talked about the fast bowling contingent of the MI franchise and said that Mumbai Indians' bowling woes have been resolved with Jofra Archer and Jasprit Bumrah getting fit and coming in.
"You know when you look at their bowling attack, and last time around they suffered, but now they have got Jofra Archer, Bumrah is fit, they have got Jason Behrendorff, so that is a quality attack which they have got, so that is not a problem. Batting also, Rohit Sharma comes back into form, that takes cares of stuff, so they will be hoping that he gets going too," Manjrekar said.
MI released a total of 13 players including 5 overseas ones and will have a purse of INR 20.55 crores to spend in the IPL 2023 auction.
