Four-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) are one of the fewer teams in the IPL that often do a great job at the IPL auction. The MI management not only identifies fine talent but also ensures that these players fit into the team’s plans. However, their strategy this time around seemed slightly different.

The franchise surprised a few with its picks. While these cricketers might be great options, the question is whether they will fit into the team combinations. The MI team management was expected to rather pick the sort of players who would bolster the side instead of someone who forced force a change to what is already a successful combination.

Here are three disappointing picks made by MI:

1. Chris Lynn

Many might argue that Chris Lynn is one of the steal deals at the IPL auction. He did a good job in IPL 2019 scoring 405 runs in 13 games at an average of 31 and strike rate of 140. Furthermore, his performances in the Abu Dhabi T10 League was the icing on the cake.

Thus, Chris Lynn was obviously a tempting package. But, consistency has been his biggest nemesis for quite a while now. While he does brilliantly in a few games, he gets out in a sheepish fashion in the other matches. Moreover, he forces a change to the Mumbai Indians batting order as well.

Chris Lynn is an opener and MI already has good quality players in the form of Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma. If he is to play, one of them will have to bat down the order. Suryakumar Yadav has been doing well at three or four. He will also be pushed down and it might impact the performances of these players. If Lynn bats down the order, he won’t have the benefit of the powerplay and it’ll be interesting to see how he deals with it.

2. Nathan Coulter-Nile

Nathan Coulter-Nile hasn’t played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the last two years. While he pulled out due to an injury in 2018, he opted to stay out in 2019 keeping the 50-over World Cup in mind. Thus far in his career, Coulter-Nile played 26 IPL games where he picked up 36 wickets at an economy rate of just under 8.

However, the price point (INR 8 crores) at which MI picked up the Australia cricketer isn’t really justified. One might feel that they have overspent on him and should have looked at better possible options. Moreover, MI can pick from Lasith Malinga, Trent Boult and Mitchell McClenaghan apart from Nathan.

Quinton de Kock, Kieron Pollard and Lasith Malinga (if fit) take three spots in the side. Evidently, there is a lot of competition for the fourth overseas spot. It wouldn’t be a great sight to see someone like Nathan Coulter-Nile just warming the bench since he is more or less a back-up option.

3. Saurabh Tiwary

Eyebrows were raised when MI raised the paddle for Saurabh Tiwary. The left-hander, who seemed quite promising at the start of his career, slowly lost his way. He last played for India in 2017 and didn’t play in an IPL game since 2017.

The cricketer also struggled with the bat in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy where he found it hard to score the big runs. Yet, MI decided to go ahead with him once again. He could just be a back-up option in the team but there were many better options the franchise had.

Moreover, the combinations of the Mumbai Indians don’t allow Tiwary to fit into the side. The team is already packed with so many talented players and Tiwary might have to warm the bench for the entire season. Mumbai could have rather given a chance to an in-form young cricketer as this would have been a great learning curve for him.