Follow UsMumbai Indians, unlike most franchises, will head into IPL 2026 mini auction with a purse of just INR 2.75 crore. It is highly unlikely that the franchise are going to be super active at the auction, and the reason is how they strengthened their outfit during the trade window.
During the trade window, the five-time IPL champions brought in the experienced all-rounder Shardul Thakur to their setup in an all-cash deal of INR 2 crore. Not just that, they went on to bolster their middle-order, roping in West Indies batter Sherfane Rutherford, who played quite a number of impactful knocks for the Gujarat Titans last year.
If those deals weren’t enough, the franchise also picked up Mayank Markande for INR 30 lakh to improve their spin unit. MI’s head coach, Mahela Jayawardene, revealed why the franchise pushed hard for these three trade deals, even if it came at the cost of them not having much funds left for the auction.
“They bring a wealth of experience; you need a group of guys who can handle that pressure,” Jayawardene said, reported the Indian Express. “Sherfane brings loads of experience, he has been around for a while and has been with us many years ago. Shardul is another player like that, so much of experience. He brings that experience factor and is a local Mumbai boy as well as his experience playing in Wankhede will matter. Mayank has been a warrior. When he was with us, he was brilliant as part of a championship-winning team. We have been looking at him for a while. We’ll know exactly the players we want to get as we enter the auction.”
MI have retained many of their core players ahead of IPL 2026, with Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Jasprit Bumrah and Will Jacks all set to play a crucial role. Jayawardene stated that they have a strong squad which ‘covers all areas’.
“When we went into the auction last year, we had a vision of how we want to go in this cycle. The retention is quite consistent with the way Mumbai usually looks at things. We have a very strong squad and we just wanted to add a few players to strengthen that. We have a very strong squad that has covered all areas. We had a good season last year. As a coach, I’m very happy with the effort that each of them put in. There are areas that we want to improve, which we will look at. They rallied around Hardik Pandya really well last season. Hardik enjoyed that atmosphere and led the team pretty well,” Jayawardene said.
“Consistency is key and we built our team around a core group of players and they still remain. They are very hungry for success. Rohit, Surya, Jasprit, Hardik, Tilak, if we put that in that pool. Obviously, bringing back Trent in last season’s auction. We have players with good international experience and an international captain like Mitch Santner as well as Jacksy, all these players have contributed really well. We have still developed those young talents. Hopefully they get an opportunity to showcase their skills as well. I have always said that I take one game at a time and only focus on the present. Our focus has always been to stay in the present and create that value chain.”
Mumbai haven’t won an IPL title in five years, with their last win coming in 2020, when they bested Delhi Capitals in the final.