Mumbai Indians are one champion team in the IPL. The juggernaut of a team started its winning campaign in 2013 and ever since then, they have won 5 IPL championships. No other team, other than CSK, comes close to their trophy count.
However, the team has been down in the dumps this year. They have played 6 games and have not been able to win a single one of them. The issue with the team is that they have looked out of sorts. They have failed to get starts, the middle order barring Dewald Brevis and Tilak Verma has looked brittle. The bowling has been shambolic with Rohit Sharma and the team management struggling to get the correct team combination.
Shane Watson takes a potshot at Mumbai Indians
Shane Watson is a well-respected and highly admired international all-rounder. He has been a world cup winner for his country and also managed to win the IPL multiple times. He won it with the Rajasthan Royals in 2008 and again in 2018 with CSK. His T20 and IPL credentials are there for all to see.
He has come out with scathing criticism of the Mumbai Indians in this year’s IPL. He said that he was not one bit surprised that the team was at the bottom of the table. He brought into question the high cost paid by Mumbai Indians for someone like Ishan Kishan.
In a podcast with the Grade Cricketer, he said, “It hasn’t surprised me that MI is 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 skillful player, but he’s not worth blowing nearly your whole salary on.”
He also questioned the team’s strategy on going for Jofra Archer this season. Jofra being injured for quite some time, it was uncertain whether he could possibly play competitive cricket. By going for players like Kishan and Archer, they limited their scope to build well-rounded squads. On the whole, Watson was very critical of the Mumbai Indians’ auction strategy.
