IPL 2025: 3 Best Buys By Hardik, Rohit-Starred Mumbai Indians In Mega Auction

MI bought 18 players in IPL 2025 auction. [Source: @RVCJ_FB & @ImTanujSingh/X]MI bought 18 players in IPL 2025 auction. [Source: @RVCJ_FB & @ImTanujSingh/X]

One of the five franchises to have retained five players ahead of Indian Premier League 2025 mega auction, Mumbai Indians shelled out INR 44.8 crore to buy 18 players during the two-day event at the Abady Al Johar Arena. Having refrained from retaining any overseas player, the Hardik Pandya-led team bought all their eight overseas names across the last two days.

Known to keep their core intact, MI successfully attempting to marshal a 23-member squad around a rock-hard five-man Indian pentad has resulted in a formidable unit. The development has also resulted in them buying back four players who have represented them in the past and buying an overseas pacer who plays for MI Emirates in the ILT20.

MI Full Squad 2025

Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz (wk), Karn Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Deepak Chahar, Allah Ghazanfar, Will Jacks, Ashwani Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Reece Topley, Krishnan Shrijith (wk), Raj Angad Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju, Bevon Jacobs, Arjun Tendulkar, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur.

3 Best Buys For Mumbai Indians In IPL Auction

Trent Boult (INR 12.5 crore)

  • Having struggled with overseas fast bowlers’ fitness and availability in the recent years, MI have pulled off a coup by acquiring the services of a mostly injury-free bowler who seldom plays international cricket nowadays.
  • Fourth-highest wicket-taker among overseas pacers for the franchise in spite of playing just two IPL seasons for them, New Zealand's Trent Boult has tasted success at Indians in the past.
  • For the unversed, he was their second-highest wicket-taker (25 scalps at an average of 18.28, an economy rate of 7.97 and a strike rate of 13.76) when they had last lifted the silverware in 2020.

Deepak Chahar (INR 9.25 crore)

  • In Deepak Chahar, Mumbai not only have an Indian pacer capable of swinging the new ball but also have a lower-order batter with ODI and T20I strike rates of 98.06 and 189.28 respectively.
  • With Indians unsurprisingly retaining Bumrah and buying Boult for a second stint, Chahar’s presence makes way for arguably the best bowling attack of the season on paper.
  • In 11 T20s at the Wankhede Stadium, Chahar has picked 13 wickets at an average of 19.69, an economy rate of 7.11 and a strike rate of 16.6.
  • Speaking to streaming platform Jio Cinema after Indians placed the final bid, Chahar admitted how pacers get assistance from the Wankhede surface.

Robin Minz (INR 65 lakh)

  • Despite all the talks around not giving up on their core, MI failed to retain their sixth-highest (highest among wicket-keeper batters) run-scorer Ishan Kishan.
  • Mumbai, who have a reputation of transforming unknown players into superstars, have entrusted faith in highly-rated uncapped wicket-keeper batter Robin Minz.
  • With each one of Minz’s four representative matches coming in the last one month, he is the franchise’s latest assignment with regard to the aforementioned reputation.
  • Minz, just like Kishan, plies his trade for Jharkhand in domestic cricket. One of the three teams to have bid for Minz during IPL 2024 auction, Mumbai had lost out to Gujarat Titans, who had shelved INR 3.6 crore for him.
  • For those who don’t know, Minz, a left-handed hard-hitting batter, bats in the lower middle-order to fit perfectly in this Playing XI.