IPL Auction | Mumbai Indians set for quiet evening in Abu Dhabi with miniscule purse and near-complete squad

If a team could ever file for proxy in an auction, it is Mumbai Indians for IPL 2026. The five-time champions have just INR 2.75 crores to spend at the event despite having released seven players, with the owners deciding to get their business done before the gavel goes down in Abhu Dhabi. They have made three trades in the off-season, signing Sherfane Rutherford (INR 2.6cr) from Gujarat Titans, Mayank Markande (INR 30L) from Kolkata Knight Riders, and Shardul Thakur (2cr) from Lucknow Super Giants to strengthen the bench and hope to improve on their Qualifier 2 finish last season. In Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma, they already have four Indian XI incumbents and the reigning T20 World Cup winning captain in what is undoubtedly the strongest core across the board in the IPL. In the last couple of years the team has struggled to fit the right puzzle pieces around them, but the small purse indicates they are confident in what they have managed to assemble and it is now simply a question of finding capable backups by putting into action their state-of-the-art scouting setup.

Top order

1 Rohit Sharma 2 Ryan Rickelton ✈️ 3 Suryakumar Yadav

Backup(s): -

Ryan Rickelton did not enjoy the grandest of maiden IPL campaigns, tallying 388 runs while striking at 150.97. However, he has since become an all-format regular for South Africa and already notched up three international tons to become one of the most sought after wicket-keeper batters in the global game. Given his secondary skill of keeping wickets, the Proteas is pretty much a shoo-in alongside Rohit Sharma who enjoyed his best IPL season last since 2016.

At three, the Indians shuffled between Suryakumar Yadav and Will Jacks last year with mixed results. While the former strung together a bumper 700-run season with frightening consistency, Jacks could only manage 233 runs at a strike rate of 135. More on the Englishman in the next section but for the sake of simplicity, I have placed SKY at three for the time being. Regardless of whether Jacks makes it into the XI or not, Mumbai could do with a top-order backup, preferably a domestic name that can keep wickets as well. Narayan Jagadeesan is one of the very few players that seem to fit the bill at present albeit he is yet to translate domestic success into the IPL, unless MI's scouting network can spring another surprise.

Possible target(s): Narayan Jagadeesan, Prithvi Shaw, Tim Seifert, Tom Banton

Middle order

4 Tilak Varma 5 Will Jacks/ Sherfane Rutherford ✈️ 6 Hardik Pandya 7 Naman Dhir

Backup(s): Will Jacks/ Sherfane Rutherford, Robin Minz

In Tilak Varma, Mumbai harbour probably the brightest Indian talent of his era, with 54 IPL games and over a 1,000 runs already under his belt at the tender age of 23. At six in skipper Hardik Pandya, MI have an absolute unicorn, the kind of cricketer India has been yearning to produce since the days of Kapil Dev decades and decades ago. And to cap off the middle-order is Naman Dhir who has garnered a reputation as one of the most fearsome finishers in the domestic circuit, boasting a 180-plus strike rate in the IPL and currently enjoying a fruitful SMAT campaign with an average of 45 and a strike rate of 158.

Now, the only question remains is which overseas name slots into the middle-order. Rutherford so far has failed to prove his credentials on the international stage where he averages under 20 after nearly 50 T20Is, and did not mkae much of a mark with Gujarat Titans either last year in his maiden IPL season. Moreover, with Jacks, Mumbai also get additional spin prowess after the Englishman impressed with his drift at Wankhede last year, scalping six wickets across the season in eight innings at an economy of 8.57. However, Rutherford is clealry a more natural fit for a middle-order role, with Jacks batting up the order last year eating into Tilak's time out in the middle, and his trade for a relatively hefty sum indicates MI may see things the same way.

Regardless, Robin Minz is the only backup Indian batter as well as the only backup keeper in MI's squad, and for all his talent he is yet to get a taste of the IPL. A signing along the veins of a Abhinav Manohar or Sarfaraz Khan would not go amiss. In fact, a potential strategy could be to go all in with their purse for one of the available Indian batters, to free up an overseas slot in the XII that would allow them to play both Mitchell Santner and Allah Ghazanfar.

Possible target(s): Sarfaraz Khan, Abhinav Manohar, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jordan Cox

Bowling attack

8 Mayank Markande 9 Deepak Chahar 10 Allah Ghazanfar ✈️ 11 Trent Boult ✈️ 12 Jasprit Bumrah 

Backup(s): Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Shardul Thakur, Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Raghu Sharma

This is where decisions begin to get tricky for Mumbai. They had signed the relatively unknown Afghan mystery spinner Ghazanfar for a substantial 4.8 crores last year but the youngster was ruled out of the entire season with injury. In his absence, Vignesh Puthur served as the team's primary spinner but has since been released, with Mitchell Santner his partner-in-crime scalping 10 wickets in 13 games at an economy of 7.92. Considering Ghazanfar has continued to impress around the globe and been retained for nearly five crores despite being an unknown commodity as far as the IPL is conerned, it would be surprising to not see him as the first-choice spinner for the five-time winners.

However, it will have to come at the cost of Santner given there is likely to be only one overseas slot available for a spinner. Even though the Kiwi seems to have markedly imrpoved his six-hitting ability over the last year and has shown unprecedent consistency with the bat since the last IPL, the recruitment of Markande might just push him out of the lineup. Even though Markande had a forgettable 2024 season with Sunrisers Hyderabad, he is enjoying a bounce back in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a brilliant economy of 7.62. Like Santner, he is not the most prolific wicket taker but an excellent defensive option, as a career economy of under eight suggests and could prove to be a crucial cog on a high scoring ground like the Wankhede.

As for the pace unit, Mumbai have three surefire starters in Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, and Trent Boult. The latter emerged as one of the leading paceman at the death across the IPL last season with an evolved slower ball and variations, and is bound to continue in the role come 2026. The acquisition of Shardul Thakur provides a like-for-like backup for Chahar, as does Proteas Corbin Bosch who made his IPL debut last season after coming in as an injury replacement. Raj Bawa and Ashwani Kumar have also shown glimpses of brilliance in the past, which completes their bowling attack.

Perhaps MI could do with a foreign seam backup given Boult's age, a relatively easy task given the plethora of options available. Raghu Sharma as the lone Indian spin backup might also raise some queries, leading to a bid on a Rahul Chahar or a Karn Sharma.

Possible target(s): Matt Henry, Lungi Ngidi, Will O'Rourke, Jacob Duffy, Rahul Chahar, Karn Sharma