IPL 2022: "Try and remember some names" - Tymal Mills and Riley Meredith share thoughts after 1st training session with Mumbai Indians
Two members of the Mumbai Indians' new-look pace attack, Tymal Mills and Riley Meredith, have shared their thoughts following the duo's first training session with the IPL team. While Mills looked comfortable in the environment and talked about "remembering some names" in the team, Meredith looked forward to "learning a lot".
A left-arm white-ball specialist quick from England, Mills was signed for ₹1.5 crore at the IPL 2022 action. Meredith, on the other hand, is a right-arm fast-bowler capable of cranking express pace. He was signed for his base price of ₹1 crore.
This will be the pair's second stint in the IPL and first in Mumbai Indians' colors. In the absence of Jofra Archer this season, one of them is likely to partner Jasprit Bumrah and Daniel Sams in the five-time champions' bowling attack.
In a video shared by the franchise, Mills gave his thoughts on the team's training kit and the "build-up" to the season before heading out for training. He said:
"Yeah, nice, good fit. All good kit, as expected. Looking forward to having a bowl in a minute. And just yeah, building up to the first game on the 27th."
Mills' first training session seemed to involve some warmup drills and light bowling. After the session, the 29-year-old talked about "taking it easy" and how he's trying to remember the names of his new teammates. He also said he'll crank up his training intensity soon. Mills added:
"Still ramping up, taking it easy. Try and remember some names... We are going to spend obviously a lot of time together. But yeah good first training session. Crank it up again in a couple of days' time."
Meredith also looked to have focussed more on warming up and fielding drills than high-intensity bowling in his first session after quarantine. In the video, he talked about the affable team environment and his outlook on the future. The Aussie said:
"You know, everyone has been really nice and friendly. Looking forward to getting on track with them and hopefully learning a lot."
He will be happier to be in a stable and consistent franchise after being part of the struggling Punjab Kings outfit last season. He joined KL Rahul and co. with a big reputation but played only five games, picking up four wickets at an average of 42.25.
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Who will replace Jofra Archer at Mumbai Indians - Tymal Mills or Riley Meredith?
Both Mills and Meredith bowl at a similar pace and have similar T20 averages - 23.75 and 23.36 respectively. But they are quite different bowlers. While the Englishman is more adept with his assortment of slower ones and variations, Meredith is more dependent on his pace to blow the batters away.
With such a toss-up, Mills' superior experience, and the fact that he's, with decent success, replaced Archer before in the 2022 T20 World Cup, will go in his favor. Mumbai Indians might be tempted to start with Meredith, but Mills is likely to get more games.