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Cricket Players'Ishan Kishan talented but not worth blowing whole salary on': Watson slams MI's 'shocking' auction strategy
Watson's criticism came amid MI's horror start to IPL 2022 season where they lost all their first five games and stand at the bottom of the points table.
Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star and Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has slammed Mumbai Indians' strategy at the mega auction in February before the start of the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL), calling it "shocking" for investing in highly talented youngster Ishan Kishan and England's T20 bowling superstar Jofra Archer. Watson's criticism came amid their horror start to IPL 2022 season where they lost all their first five games and stand at the bottom of the points table.
Mumbai, who retained Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard before the auction, had shelled out a whopping INR 15.5 crore to buy back Ishan and then signed Archer for INR 8 crore. Speaking on 'The Grade Cricketer', Watson slammed both the auction moves saying that he isn't one bit surprised by Mumbai's position in the points table.
“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. 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 tha Delhi Capitals’ (DC) assistant coach.
Mumbai, who have so far lost to Delhi, Rajasthan Royals (RR), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Punjab Kings (PBKS), stand on the edge of elimination as they gear up to face Lucknow Super Giants in their sixth match this season.
Speaking about his former IPL team, Watson feels that CSK's struggle is owing to their pace department which has been hampered after Deepak Chahar has been ruled out of the entire season.
“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," he said.
