MI had a shocking auction, no surprise they are at bottom of the table: Shane Watson

Delhi Capitals assistant coach Shane Watson felt that Mumbai Indians’ auction strategies have left them reeling at the bottom of the points table. The Rohit Sharma-led side is the only team in IPL 2022 edition without a win so far despite playing five games. The five-time champions are the most successful IPL team in the tournament history and for them to struggle this year has surprised a lot of the fans.

The major part of their struggles relate to this year’s mega auction wherein they had waited for Ishan Kishan and went all out, splashing INR 15.25 crore on the youngster to get his services back. The other surprising move from the side in the auction was to buy Jofra Archer for huge money despite him being unavailable for this edition. The lack of depth in the bowling is exposed at the moment and the team balance hasn’t quite collectively worked out well.

They had a shocking auction: Shane Watson

Watson isn’t quite surprised with Mumbai Indians languishing at the bottom of the points table due to their auction strategies and felt that they had spent too much on Kishan, which turned out to be the most expensive buy in the IPL 2022 mega auction. He added that picking up Archer, who hasn’t played for a while, was a risky option and noted the holes in the team.

“It hasn’t surprised me that MI are at the bottom of the table because they had a shocking auction. Spending so much money on Ishan Kishan… He is a very talented and skilful player, but he’s not worth blowing nearly your whole salary on,” Watson said on the Grade Cricketer podcast.

“And then, going for Jofra Archer, not knowing whether he is going to come back in. He hasn’t played cricket for quite a while. They have got quite a few holes in the team,” he added. Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians will next play against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Brabourne Stadium on the 16th of April in an afternoon game.