"Somebody like Zampa or Adil Rashid will be perfect for MI" - Sanjay Manjrekar
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians (MI) might be interested in securing the services of overseas spinners like Adam Zampa and Adil Rashid. Their bowling was arguably one of the worst in the league last season and one of the main reasons for that was the absence of a quality Indian wrist spinner.
Mumbai did have the likes of Mayank Markande and Murugan Ashwin, but Manjrekar feels they made a huge mistake by not retaining leg-spinner Rahul Chahar ahead of last year's mega auction.
Speaking on the Star Sports show 'Game Plan', Sanjay Manjrekar explained how the likes of Adam Zampa or Adil Rashid can help Mumbai Indians strengthen their bowling. He said:
"Now every IPL team needs somebody like Rashid Khan. So, they are looking for their Rashid Khan or a Sunil Narine. So, yes, a wrist spinner, they have let go of M Ashwin, they have a history of spinners, there was Markande with them, Rahul Chahar, they should never have let him go, he’s gone, so maybe an overseas spinner, somebody like Zampa or Adil Rashid will be perfect for them.”
Sanjay Manjrekar impressed with MI's pace battery
Sanjay Manjrekar also lauded Mumbai's management for snapping up the services of left-arm seamer Jason Behrendorff for the upcoming IPL season in the trade window. He feels the trio of Behrendorff, Jasprit Bumrah, and Jofra Archer are potentially world-class and are capable of sending shivers down the spine of the opposition batters.
On this, Manjrekar stated:
“You know, when you look at their bowling attack, and last time around they suffered, but now they’ve got Jofra Archer, Bumrah is fit, they’ve got Jason Behrendorff, so that’s a quality attack which they’ve got, so that’s not a problem."
Current Mumbai Indians squad: Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Dewald Brevis, N Tilak Varma, Jofra Archer, Tim David, Mohd. Arshad Khan, Ramandeep Singh, Hrithik Shokeen, Arjun Tendulkar, Jason Behrendorff, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Tristan Stubbs