It’s been a bummer of a day for Mumbai Indians fans as reports of Jasprit Bumrah being ruled out of the entire season of the IPL have been flying around. BCCI is not willing to risk their World Cup campaign and has thus decided to put Bumrah on rest until he fully recovers.
Bumrah is an integral element of the bowling attack of the Mumbai Indians at the IPL. The impact he has had on the franchise can not be duplicated. However, if the 29-year-old-pacer is not able to participate in this year’s IPL, Mumbai would most likely be looking forward to finding someone who could fill in his shoes. Here’s a list of potential players who could Mumbai possibly go for ahead of this year’s IPL:
Mujeeb Ur Rehman:
Pace is typically MI’s high point this season, but it is spin where the 5 times IPL champion struggles this season. Mumbai have Piyush Chawla and Kumar Kartikeya as their frontline spinners.
The IPL is a very long tournament, and it is very important for teams to have good spinners in the bank. Hailing from Afghanistan, the right-arm mystery spinner has played 38 T20 internationals for his home country and has 49 scalps to his name. Mujeeb would be an economical option to have on the team as batsmen find it hard to read his variations, and thus end up giving him their wickets.
Mujeeb has also featured in 19 IPL games and has picked up 19 wickets with a career-best of 3/27 in his first season (2018). Mujeeb is available at his base price of Rs. 1 Crore, and if Mumbai plan to go for him, he would be a valuable addition to the team.
Adam Milne
Adam Milne would not be an unfamiliar face for the Mumbai Indians. He was a part of Mumbai’s campaign on 4 previous occasions; 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021. During these 4 seasons, the 30-year-old pacer from New Zealand played 8 matches for the franchise, wherein he picked 6 wickets at a hemorrhaging economy rate of 9+.
However, in the last couple of years, Milne has improved a lot. His recent performances in franchise cricket have been pretty noticeable. Even when the Kiwi fast bowler has not picked wickets, he has been fairly economical.
He might not be anything like Jasprit Bumrah, but Adam Milne is a pretty versatile bowler. He can bowl with the new ball, at the death overs; not to forget the ability to constantly clock at 145+. If Mumbai are looking to strengthen their pace battery, Adam Milne is the best available option for them.
Sandeep Sharma
Sandeep Sharma being unsold at the IPL auctions came as a huge shocker to everyone. A player, having played 100+ matches at the IPL, and constantly performing well, being ignored in such a fashion was kind of a bummer to all cricket fans.
Despite having a base price of just Rs. 50 Lakhs, Sandeep failed to attract any bids to his name. However, that may have come in as a blessing in disguise for Mumbai Indians. Now that the right-arm medium pacer is up for grabs, Mumbai can pick him up at his base price without having to get into bidding wars with any teams whatsoever.
Sandeep, who made his debut in 2013 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, has played 104 games so far, picking up 114 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 7.77. His ability to swing it both ways makes him very lethal with the new ball.
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