New Delhi: Mumbai Indians (MI) had a decent outing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction as they again went for New Zealand stalwart Trent Boult, picking him for Rs. 12.5 crore – their top buy, while also got hold of Deepak Chahar who turned out to be their second top buy at Rs. 9.25 crore. It can be said that the franchise invested heavily to strengthen their pace bowling attack which already had star bowler Jasprit Bumrah and skipper Hardik Pandya.
Bumrah and Pandya were retained by the team ahead of the mega auction, alongside Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, and Tilak Varma. The team, as it looked, wanted to keep its core intact and now will have the additional services of Boult and Chahar, two fast bowling greats who can turn out to be game changers for the team. It is noteworthy that Boult has already played for MI during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
He moved to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in IPL 2022 and stayed there till the 2024 season. The left arm quick was expected to be retained by RR but was rather released and went up for bidding at the mega auction where MI put him in their kitty. Meanwhile, Chahar, who almost became a Chennai Super Kings (CSK) regular as he was there from 2018 to 2024, will now ply his trade for Mumbai, bolstering their pace attack.
The first over dilemma…
Ever since the final squad of Mumbai Indians for IPL 2025 has been out, fans have been gushing over their pace bowling section, discussing deeply on what could turn out to be a major problem for the franchise. The dilemma has even turned into a meme fest on social media. However, the problem is nothing but a problem of plenty as they have brought in players who are bound to give them headaches when they enter the ground every match day.
Now that they have secured the services of Bumrah, Boult, Chahar, and Pandya, it remains a huge question as to who would bowl the first over of the Powerplay. Although it is highly unlikely that all four will be a part of their playing XI but if conditions require the management to go for them all, fans can witness the management and the skipper Pandya making some tough calls.
Chahar used to open the bowling attack at CSK while Boult did the same for RR in the last few seasons. At MI, the job belonged to Jasprit Bumrah who now has not one but two contenders to fight for the first over and if things take a turnaround, skipper Pandya might shock the fans and give himself the first over. Apart from Pandya, the other three bowlers can take command of the attack but the pace-bowling all-rounder can’t be ruled out of contention as he remains the captain.
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