Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels that either of Australia's Adam Zampa or England's Adil Rashid will be a perfect addition for five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians in the upcoming IPL 2023 Player Auction, to be held in Kochi on Friday.
Mumbai, who had a disappointing bottom place finish in IPL 2022, are in need of spinners and as per Manjrekar, are expected to go hard for acquiring services of Zampa and Rashid. Both Zampa and Rashid are premier leg-spinners on whom Australia and England heavily rely for stemming the run-flow and picking wickets in the middle overs.
"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."
"Batting also, Rohit Sharma comes back into form, that takes cares of stuff, so they'll be hoping that he gets going too. But leg spin, now every IPL team needs somebody like Rashid Khan. So, they are looking for their Rashid khan or a Sunil Narine," said Manjrekar on 'Game Plan - Auction Special' show on Star Sports.
But Zampa and Rashid haven't been able to set the IPL stage on fire through their skills and variations. In 14 IPL games, Zampa has picked 21 wickets at an average of 17.62 and economy rate of 7.74, including best figures of 6/19 when he first played for now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant.
Rashid, on the other hand, had just one appearance for Punjab Kings in IPL 2021. "So, that's where somebody like a Zampa or an Adil Rashid can come into the equation to find the leg spinner. So, all three aspects seems okay despite their performance last season."
"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 a Zampa or an Adil Rashid will be perfect for them," concluded Manjrekar.