IPL 2024 Auction: Mumbai Indians' possible strategy, five players they can target, remaining purse and more

Less than a week remains for the IPL 2024 Player Auction to get underway, with the event moving to Dubai this year where it will take place at the Coca-Cola Arena on Tuesday, 19 December.

The franchises had already submitted their list of retained and released players on 26 November, and the trading window too has been put on pause since Tuesday, exactly a week before the auction.

The 10 franchises thus, will have readied their plans for the auction and will have an extensive idea of the players they will be targeting before they board their flights for the United Arab Emirates.

Among the teams that made some big-ticket moves ahead of the auction is five-time champions Mumbai Indians. The Rohit Sharma-led side have released major names such as England pacer Jofra Archer, have traded seam-bowling all-rounder Cameron Green to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

They have also welcomed all-rounder Hardik Pandya back into their fold from the Gujarat Titans in what has been one of the biggest talking points in cricket in recent weeks.

There are, however, a few gaps that are still left to be plugged. Heading into next week’s auction, we take a look at MI’s strategy for the auction and five players they will be targeting besides other details such as remaining purse, slots as well as the current squad:

MI Auction Strategy:

There are a couple of departments that the Mumbai Indians are likely to focus on in the upcoming option. Their primary focus will be on getting an overseas quick, or two, if their purse permits, on board. MI had released five overseas quicks on IPL Retention Day — Duan Jansen, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith and Chris Jordan besides express quick Archer.

Read | Players that each franchise can target at IPL 2024 mini-auction

They also traded seam-bowling all-rounder Green to RCB. Which means getting new recruits, or buying one of their released players back to their fold, will be a priority. MI will also be looking for a spin-bowling all-rounder given their two spinners Piyush Chawla and Kumar Kartikeya usually bat lower down the order.

Players MI will be targeting:

Gerald Coetzee

Considered among many as South Africa’s next pace star, Coetzee has made rapid strides in international cricket since making his debut against West Indies in early 2023. Not only was he among the key performers with the ball in the inaugural edition of SA20, more recently he collected 20 wickets on ICC World Cup debut, finishing at the fourth spot among wicket-takers.

Gerald Coetzee collected 20 wickets in the recent ICC World Cup. AP

He also collected three wickets in the second T20I against India, dismissing Ravindra Jadeja and Arshdeep Singh in quick succession. The 23-year-old could be an ideal replacement for Archer, who barely made any appearances for MI due to recurring injuries.

Beuran Hendricks

Coetzee isn’t the only South Africa quick MI might have their sights set on in the upcoming auction. Left-arm seamer Hendricks, who represented MI Cape Town in the inaugural SA20, might also be a good fit for the side and will also add variety to the attack the way New Zealand pacer Mitchell McClenaghan did for a number of seasons in the previous decade. Hendricks was among the top five wicket-takers in the CSA Provincial One-Day Challenge, where he finished with 11 wickets at 19.63.

Wanindu Hasaranga

Hasaranga was among the high-profile names released by the Royal Challengers Bangalore on IPL Retention Day and a number of franchises, Mumbai Indians included, will have their sights set on him. The Sri Lankan has 35 wickets to his credit at an average of 21.37, 26 of those wickets coming in a stellar 2022 season in which he also collected a five-for (5/18). Given that he has bowled a majority of his overs at the batting paradise that is the M Chinnaswamy Stadium makes his numbers even more impressive.

Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman

Afghanistan had quite the stellar run in the recent ICC World Cup, where they finished with four wins in nine outings and were in contention for the semi-finals at one stage. And off-spinner Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman was among the players who had a role in contributing towards the watershed moment in Afghan cricket, winning the Player of the Match for his all-round contribution in the victory over England. The fact that MI don’t have a frontline off-spin option — they have two left-arm spinners and a leg-spinner — also helps Mujeeb’s case.

George Linde

Both Mujeeb and Hasaranga carry relatively expensive price tags of Rs 2 crore and 1.5 crore respectively. Given MI’s limited purse, they might just go after South Africa left-arm spinner George Linde, who enters the auction with a base price of Rs 50 lakh. Linde, who like Hendricks was part of MI Cape Town in the inaugural SA20, has a strike rate of 133 in T20s including three half-centuries in addition to his spin-bowling exploits (146 wickets at 26.21).

Current MI squad: Akash Madhwal, Arjun Tendulkar, Dewald Brevis, Ishan Kishan, Jason Behrendorff, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, N. Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Piyush Chawla, Rohit Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Shams Mulani, Surya Kumar Yadav, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Hardik Pandya

Released players: Mohammad Arshad Khan, Ramandeep Singh, Hrithik Shokeen, Raghav Goyal, Jofra Archer, Tristan Stubbs, Duan Jansen, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Chris Jordan, Sandeep Warrier

Remaining slots: Mumbai Indians have eight slots to fill heading into the player auction, including four overseas slots.

Remaining purse: With the price tag of the players retained by the Mumbai Indians or traded into the squad totaling Rs 82.25 crore, the five-time champions have Rs 17.75 crore left to spend during the mini-auction.