Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar wants Mumbai Indians to go for Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins in the IPL 2024 auction. With Mumbai Indians releasing fast bowlers like Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Chris Jordan, and Jofra Archer, they will be looking to add more strength to the pace battery of Jason Behrendorff, Romario Shepherd, and Jasprit Bumrah.
Starc has entered the IPL 2024 auction after last playing in the tournament in 2015 for Royal Challengers Bangalore. On the other hand, Pat Cummins withdrew himself from IPL 2023 for the World Cup preparation and will once again take part in the mini-auction.
Meanwhile, Starc picked 16 wickets in 10 matches of the ODI World Cup whereas Cummins took 15 wickets in 11 matches of the showpiece. Thus, the duo played a key role in taking Australia to glory for the sixth time.
“With Australia’s recent triumph (in the ODI World Cup), you will see a lot of the Australian players, especially people like Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. So Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc could be two bowlers that Mumbai Indians would be gunning for. Pace bowling-wise, maybe a little short. So they might want to have another overseas option,” said Manjrekar on Star Sports.
Mumbai Indians have a remaining purse value of INR 17.5 crores and thus Manjrekar expects the franchise to go hard for either Starc or Cummins.
“They have got about 17.5 crores. So I expect them to go hard at Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc. Also, I think somewhere at the top because Cameron Green used to bat at the top of the order and be an exciting option at No. 3 or open. They might want to have an opener as well as an option,” Manjrekar added.
The IPL 2024 mini-auction will be held in Dubai on December 19.
Mumbai Indians Retained Players
Rohit Sharma (c), Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, N. Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff, Romario Shepherd (from LSG), Hardik Pandya (from GT).
Mumbai Indians Released Players
Mohd. Arshad Khan, Ramandeep Singh, Hrithik Shokeen, Raghav Goyal, Jofra Archer, Tristan Stubbs, Duan Jansen, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Chris Jordan, Sandeep Warrier.
