Shane Watson slammed MI for spending so much money on Ishan Kishan in IPL 2022 -a “Shocking” auction

Former Australian all-rounder and current Delhi Capitals assistant coach Shane Watson slammed Mumbai Indians for their strategy in the mega auction in February before the start of IPL 2022. MI retained Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Kieron Pollard before the auction. He said it is shocking that MI invested INR 15.25 crores for wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan and INR 8 crores for England’s T20 bowler Jofra Archer in the IPL mega auction.

Ishan Kishan made a bright start this season with a big score of 81 runs playing against Delhi Capitals in IPL 2022. Later his performance went down in the other five matches with a total score of 191 with a strike rate of 117.18 in IPL 2022.

Mumbai Indians have lost to Delhi Capitals (DC), Rajasthan Royals (RR), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Punjab Kings (PBKS), and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) ) holding tough chances for a playoff in this season. Watson’s criticism came true as MI lost all 6 matches played so far and stand at the bottom of the points table. Watson expressed his opinion during a conversation in ‘The Grade Cricketer’ podcast.

“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”.

“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,” said Delhi Capitals assistant coach.

A Big Hole in CSK Team:

Chennai Super Kings also endured four losses until a 23-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore. Speaking about his former IPL team, Watson feels that CSK is struggling with weak pace bowling. Deepak Chahar, who was bought at  INR 14 crore making him their most expensive buy in the IPL history is absent now leaving a big hole in the team.

“The biggest issue with CSK, now that I have seen their five games, is that they have got a hole, especially with their fast bowling. In the previous years, they had Shardul Thakur. Deepak Chahar is injured. They paid a lot for him at the auction, but he is (likely to be) unavailable for a lot of the tournament, which is a big hole.

They don’t have a quality overseas quick like Josh Hazlewood. Earlier, they always had a world-class overseas quick bowler. That’s why they are struggling,” Watson said.

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