Ahead of IPL 2021 auction, Mumbai Indians took a very bold step by releasing their key fast bowler Lasith Malinga. With December 20 being the deadline to submit the list of the released and retained player before the mini-auction, the franchises are taking bold steps by releasing some of their key players.
Lasith Malinga, who is the most successful bowler in the history of IPL ever since he made his debut way back in 2009. Well known for his ability of fabulous yorkers, also played a major role to earn the trophy for MI. The defending champion Mumbai Indians released him without a second thought. Maling won the purple cap in the year 2011 and still the highest wicket-taker in the history of IPL. He just played 10 seasons of IPL out of 13 and still, no one surpassed him.
Malinga was not part of IPL 2020 which was played in the bio-bubble secure environment of the United Arab Emirates. He was all set to join the franchise but later pulled off because of some personal reasons.
Mitchell McClenaghan is also the player released by the franchise as now they have enough talent to fill in their spaces. Jasprit Bumrah is now one of the most valuable player of the franchise as he filled in the space of Lasith Malinga and did a splendid job for the last many years.
The released players of Mumbai Indians:
- Lasith Malinga
- Sherfane Rutherford
- Nathan Coulter Nile
- James Pattinson
- Mitchell McClenaghan
- Prince Balwant Rai
- Digvijay Deshmukh
The retained players of Mumbai Indians:
- Rohit Sharma
- Ishan Kishan
- SuryaKumar Yadav
- Quinton de Kock
- Anmolpreet Singh
- Aditya Tare
- Chris Lyn
- Saurabh Tiwary
- Hardik Pandya
- Krunal Pandya
- Kieron Pollard
- Jayant Yadav
- Trent Boult
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Mohsin Khan
- Rahul Chahar
- Lasith Malinga
- Anukul Roy