Veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said that the Mumbai Indians (MI) have pulled off a bargain by acquiring the service of West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd in an all-cash trade of INR 50 lakh from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). However, Ashwin was impressed with how Shepherd played in the West Indies’ ODI series win against England.

In a video on his YouTube channel, Ravichandran Ashwin said: “Mumbai Indians have pulled off a burglary at LSG. Hardik Pandya is himself a well-organized planned heist like we saw in Money Heist. But Romario Shephard was a little pickpocket while walking for a breeze. I feel they have given 50 lakhs for a player on the right side of his career.”

Ravichandran Ashwin feels that Hardik Pandya’s acquisition has helped Mumbai Indians get into a situation where they may not field four overseas players in their playing XI at the beginning. He also thinks they can use Shepherd as an impact player and he could be an absolute game-changer for them.

“Romario Shepherd has been in the IPL for two years and has not exactly lived up to his potential. However, he scored with a 150 strike rate for West Indies against England and picked a couple of players as well. Mumbai have a solid Indian core so with the impact player rule, Romario Shephard is a dangerous player,” Ravichandran Ashwin concluded.