Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra believes that Mumbai Indians could be one of the teams to use all the available storage space ahead of the mega auction. According to Chopra, MI can retain six players, which means they will be auctioning with them for a total of INR 41 crore.
Recently, MI appointed Mahela Jayawardene as the head coach of the team. Jayawardene replaces Mark Boucher, who was the head coach of the team for the 2023 and 2024 seasons of the IPL. However, MI had their worst season in IPL 2024 as they finished last in the points table.
Jayawardene previously served as the head coach of Mumbai Indians from 2017 to 2022. During his tenure, MI won three IPL titles and became the first franchise to win five IPL titles. But in 2022, he was appointed global head of cricket at MI and had to give up his role as head coach.
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“Mumbai Indians are trying to keep their core” – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra feels that Mahela Jayawardene will now try to retain the core as much as possible. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra mentioned that MI is trying to bring back important players who are the backbone of this side.
According to him, the players retained in the squad will be Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma/Ishan Kishan and the only player who may not be out is Nehal Wadhera.
“Mahela Jayawardene is back. So there are some changes. Mumbai Indians are also trying to keep their core given Hardik Pandya’s form and have Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma/Ishan Kishan. Then there is Nehal Wadhera,” he said. .
Mumbai Indians can use all storage before auction – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra added that Mumbai will have an advantage even if they use all their storage space and go into the auction after spending INR 79 crore.
“I mean they have a lot of them. So they can keep the 5+1 and after spending Rs 79 crore go to the auction. They are the ones who can manage because the six players they will keep will be part of the XI and all of them will be Indians, so they they can still pull it off,” he said.
Hardik Pandya is currently the captain of Mumbai Indians and although Indian national captain Suryakumar Yadav is also in the team, it remains to be seen whether he will remain in the role. Under the leadership of Hardik Pandya, Mumbai Indians finished last in the points table last year.
Aakash Chopra talks about Paras Mhambrey as MI bowling coach
Aakash Chopra also explained why MI appointed Paras Mhambrey as bowling coach. He believes that last season’s poor bowling performance could have prompted them to go for a new bowling coach.
“They were conceding a lot of runs. If they were scoring 200-225, they were conceding even though Bumrah was there. If you were conceding 200 runs in 16 runs, you need a lot of bowling help. So Paras Mhambrey came there,” Chopra said.
Paras Mhambrey had a successful stint as the bowling coach of the Indian team during Rahul Dravid’s tenure as the head coach. Mhambrey has also played a key role in developing the battery of fast bowlers that India are currently benefiting from.
