"They had a shocking Auction" - Shane Watson not surprised by the poor show from Mumbai Indians in IPL 2022
The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League has seen some of the most spectacular matches and performances. Some teams have gone to another level in terms of performance, but some of them have had a nightmare of a season so far. The most successful team in IPL history is one of those that had a horrible start to this season. The Mumbai Indians remain the only team in the tournament that hasn't won any matches. Rohit Sharma and his men have now lost five matches on the trot.
That has come as a surprise to many ex-cricketers and fans, because no one expected them to fall at this level. As a result, they are sitting at the bottom of the points table. However, there is one person who expected this kind of performance from the Mumbai team. The Australian all-rounder, who is currently associated with the Delhi Capitals as an assistant coach, believes that the Mumbai-based franchise had a total miscalculation of their plans at the auction and now they are facing the consequences.
During a cricket podcast, "The Grade Cricketer," Shane Watson shared his thoughts on the performance of the Rohit-led team. He said that MI made a huge mistake in investing 15.25 cr in Ishan Kishan, which was almost their full purse value, and that led them to complain about the quality of the bowlers they bought at the auction. Watson stated that he is not surprised by MI's poor performance because their bowling attack lacks quality. He said, "It hasn't surprised me because they had a shocking auction. Spending so much money on Ishan Kishan... He is a very talented, but he's not worth blowing nearly your whole salary on."
The franchise retained Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Keiron Pollard ahead of the auction. Then they went for Ishan Kishan and made him the costliest player in the 2022 auction. However, they bought Jofra Archer (8 cr) and Tim David (8.25 cr) as well. Speaking of Jofra Archer, the former all-rounder said that MI made another mistake by spending money on Archer because he was also out of action for more than a year and he will only play in the IPL next year. He concluded, "They have got quite a few holes in the team."
MI, who has lost all five matches, will now face Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. It will be a do or die match for the five-time champions, because the loss in the next match will be the end of the season.