Veteran India spinner R Ashwin has called South African pacer Gerald Coetzee as very much a Mumbai Indians (MI) player ahead of the IPL 2024 mini-auction, which is set to be held in Dubai on December 19.
After an impressive ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 campaign with South Africa, Coetzee will be one of the hottest candidates in the upcoming mini-auction. In eight games, the right-arm bowler took 20 wickets at an average of 19.80 and an economy of 6.23. He was also handy with the bat lower down the order.
Ashwin said Coetzee is a very Mumbai Indians player, adding that they might not even go for Australia pacer Mitchell Starc. MI has an INR 17.75 crore purse for the IPL 2024 mini-auction.
“Gerald Coetzee is a very Mumbai Indians player. That blue jersey with gold on him, bowling at the Wankhede Stadium, bustling in—he looks like an MI sort of a player. If they don't get anybody, I think they are going for him. In my view, they might not even go for Mitchell Starc,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel.
He went on to warn that Starc and Australia skipper Pat Cummins will be in high demand in the mini-auction and that they may even pull out in the middle of the competition to prepare for the Ashes and the T20 World Cup.
Starc represented Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL in 2014 and 2015, while Cummins has represented Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians, and Kolkata Knight Riders.
“Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are the only two fresh guys. Though there are guys like Rachin Ravindra, Coetzee, and a few other names, it looks pretty sure that these are the two names everybody wants to acquire. The Ashes are going to come, as is the T20 World Cup, and there is a heavy chance that Cummins and Starc are going to pull out of the tournament, and it is there in their histories,” Ashwin added.
Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were part of Australia's T20 World Cup 2021 and ICC World Cup 2023 winning teams.
