Former India opener turned famous commentator Aakash Chopra has said that the Mumbai Indians (MI) seemed to be playing the waiting game, as MS Dhoni on the field of play, on Day 1 of the IPL 2022 Auction. However, Mumbai Indians had already retained Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard prior to the mega auction. They bought just four more players – Ishan Kishan, Dewald Brevis, Basil Thampi and Murugan Ashwin – on the first day of the auction as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra explained: “They [Mumbai Indians] just saved money for Ishan and spent them on him, which is fine. But as of now, it seems they are playing like MS Dhoni, that they will take the game till the end and then they will start playing.”

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Chopra elaborated: “They were on a mission to get Ishan Kishan and they got him. It seemed they had not come to the auction at all but when they came, they shone. They picked Ishan Kishan at such a huge sum.”

Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan was the most expensive buy on Day 1 of the IPL 2022 Auction. The five-time champions spent a whopping ₹15.25 crore also. Aakash Chopra highlighted that MI did bid for a few players but at last didn’t buy. Mumbai Indians still have ₹27.85 crores remaining as well.

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“They were absolutely inactive. They were window shopping while waiting for Ishan Kishan, showed little interest and then opted out. They tried for Quinton de Kock, Rabada and Trent Boult but didn’t buy anyone. It is going to be an interesting day. If we see from the Mumbai Indians’ viewpoint, the first day of the auction was 50-50. But it is not over, till it is. Today is going to be very important. They have not been able to assemble the bowlers,” Aakash Chopra concluded.