Mumbai: Former Australian cricketer and Delhi Capitals current assistant coach Shane Watson slammed Mumbai Indians’ strategy at the auction calling it “shocking” for investing way too much on talented youngster Ishan Kishan and England’s bowling superstar Jofra Archer.
Watson’s criticism came amid their poor performance in the 15th edition of the IPL. The Rohit Sharma-led side is currently languishing at the bottom of the table having lost five out of five games so far. They are yet to register a win and will continue to struggle considering the heavy weakness in their bowling attack.
“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.
Watson also said the MI made the wrong choice by going all in for Jofra Archer, who has been out of action due to a long-term elbow injury. He was bought by MI at the mega auction for Rs 8 crores. “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.
Watson also opened up on his former franchise Chennai Super Kings. As the four-time champions are having a tough time in the IPL 15 season, losing four of their five games so far. Talking about CSK’s struggle Watson stated that it is due to their pace department which has been hampered after Deepak Chahar has been ruled out of the competition.
“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 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.” He concluded.
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