'He was sold for some 15-16 crore one season': Sehwag suggests under-fire MI to make a bold call for next IPL 2022 clash

For the five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians, their start to the Indian Premier League 2022 has been pretty abysmal. Having lost all their three matches of the season, MI are languishing at the ninth position on the points table and it is evident that the franchise is missing the star power from their previous years. With no Trent Boult or Hardik Pandya or Nathan Coulter-Nile, MI are struggling with a genuine frontline pacer to partner Jasprit Bumrah. (Also Read: Nitish Rana, Jasprit Bumrah breach IPL Code of Conduct; action taken)

They have tried Daniel Sams and Tymal Mills among overseas options and Basil Thampi as the other Indian pacer but the results haven't been underwhelming. Besides, even if MI are to look at their squad, there isn't a high-profile fast bowler who can solve the team’s woes. Or is there? Well, former India opener Virender Sehwag feels that although MI mostly have an inexperienced lot of pacers to pick from, there is someone who they can try for their next IPL 2022 match.

"Until last year, MI had someone like a Nathan Coulter-Nile, who would play if a pacer wasn't performing well or was injured. If you look at MI's bench strength now, it's like the management will think twice to include those sitting out of the XI. The likes of Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat, Riley Meredith and Arshad Khan are sitting out. Besides, even guys such as Sanjay Yadav, Arjun Tendulkar, Hrithik Shokeen and other aren't the type of names who can replace Basil Thampi or Daniel Sams," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.

"Of them all, I think only Unadkat is the one, who has experience and did well one season for Pune (Rising Pune Supergiants). He was sold for some 15-16 crore but even then, his next season wasn't that great. So he is the only one who looks potent enough to partner Bumrah. Barring him, there aren't too many others. MI don't have a bowler who can bowl three overs in the Powerplay and they can't afford to make Bumrah bowl three overs. MI's bowling stocks appear weak so their batters need to work hard this time around."

Sehwag did not exactly get his Unadkat price tag right. Unadkat was sold for ₹11.5 crore to Rajasthan Royals after a staggering show in IPL 2017, where he had picked up 24 wickets including a hat-trick, which was a wicket-maiden over against Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, ever since Unadkat hasn't been able to replicate a similar sort of performance in the IPL. The left-arm quick, who has been vocal about wanting to make a comeback into the Indian team, played 13 matches across the last 2 editions of the IPL and grabbed eight wickets. With MI shelling ₹1.3 crore for him at the auction, it will be interesting to see whether they pay any heed to Sehwag's advice.