Five Time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have been witnessing a forgettable start to their campaign in the 15th edition of the tournament as they have lost six matches with the latest defeat coming against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). MI is currently bottom of the points table and could miss out on playoff spots for two consecutive seasons.

This rough start for MI has garnered a lot of criticism but the former Australian all-rounder, Shane Watson is surprised at all. The Aussie said MI got it all wrong in the auctions. The former cricketer has questioned MI’s auction strategy and their decision to spend a whopping INR 15.25 Crores of salary on Ishan Kishan, claiming that the move has affected the overall balance of squad.

during a conversation in ‘The Grade Cricketer’ podcast, Shane Watson said, “It hasn’t surprised me that Mumbai Indians are at the bottom of the table because they had a shocking auction. Spending so much money on Ishan Kishan…He is a very talented and skillful player, but he’s not worth blowing nearly your whole salary on.”

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Ishan Kishan has scored a total of 178 runs in the five games and he played his best innings came against Delhi Capitals where he scored 81*. Shane Watson added that their decision to send an additional INR 8 crore to buy Jofra Archer, who is still recovering from elbow surgery was a blunder too.

Shane Watson explained, “And then, going for Jofra Archer, not knowing whether he is going to come back in. He hasn’t played cricket for quite a while. They have got quite a few holes in the team.”

Winless so far in five matches, MI is struggling to put together a winning combination. They retained Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Kieron Pollard in the IPL 2022 mega auctions but they haven’t managed to create an impact so far.

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However, Suryakumar Yadav has urged the fans to show some patience as the side are currently undergoing a transition phase and has said the results can only be seen in the next few season as the team is working on turning young talents into finished products.