The IPL 2024 auction is around the corner and the speculations and rumors over the potential signings of the players by the franchises continue to create hype before the marquee event kicks off.
The auction is scheduled to take place in Dubai on Tuesday, December 19 where all the teams will attempt to bolster their respective squads ahead of the new season.
Another massive prediction has been made by the former India batter and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar who believes that Mumbai Indians could be gunning for the Australian pace duo of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc in the upcoming mini-auction.
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Mumbai Indians recently took a huge step to bring back Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans and sent Cameron Green to Royal Challengers Bangalore during the pre-auction trade.
“With Australia's recent triumph (in the ODI World Cup), you will see a lot of the Australian players, especially people like Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. So Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc could be two bowlers that Mumbai Indians would be gunning for. Pace bowling-wise, maybe a little short. So they might want to have another overseas option,” said Manjrekar.
Manjrekar went on to say that the five-time champions Mumbai are also expected to go hard for Cummins and Starc. Notably, they recently released England pacer Jofra Archer who failed to make his mark with a lack of appearances due to injury issues.
He also added that MI might also look to strengthen the batting while going for an opener and Travis Head could be their target.
The World Cup winning players with Australia like Cummins, Starc, and Head all will be part of the auction and have set their base price at INR 2 Crore as per reports.
“They have got about 17.5 crores. So I expect them to go hard at Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc. Also, I think somewhere at the top because Cameron Green used to bat at the top of the order and be an exciting option at No. 3 or open. They might want to have an opener as well as an option,” Manjrekar added.
The demand for several Australian players saw a decline in the past few years due to concerns over their availability in the tournament. However, it has increased after they contributed to the team's sixth World Cup that too on Indian soil so the players will again be in high demand.
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It is to be noted that the deadline for the retention of players was on Sunday, November 26 but the trade window is still open and will close only on December 12, a week before the mini-auction. This will be the first time the auction will be held overseas.