Mumbai Indians roped in Sri Lanka pacer Nuwan Untilhara for Rs 4.40 crore in the IPL 2024 Auction. The pacer with a bowling action similar to Lasith Malinga has already played in the Lanka Premier League, Abu Dhabi T10 League and the Sri Lanka national cricket team.
Apart from Nuwan Untilhara, Mumbai Indians also bought Dilshan Madushanka for Rs 4.6 crore and rising South African speedster Gerald Coetzee for Rs 5 crore. The three-man pace attack is considered to be the next generation of Mumbai Indians along with Jasprit Bumrah.
Speaking after the IPL 2024 auction, the Mumbai Indians head coach spoke about the pace of attack that the management has managed to achieve. He said MI got companies like Coetzee and Madushanka at a relatively cheaper price than expected.
“We were surprised that we got both at a very affordable price. “We are very happy with the two international teams we have achieved so far.” -said Boucher-.
He further spoke about the acquisition of Dilshan Madushanka and said that he was bagged based on his recent performances. He took 21 wickets in the World Cup and was Sri Lanka’s highest wicket-taker in the competition.
Nuwan Untilhara’s selection was based on his recent performances: Mark Boucher
“We made the decision to bet on him because he is a young and promising superstar. He is a three phase bowler. He swings the new ball well and has good swings at the death. The selection is based solely on what he has been doing lately and I am sure that he will bring a lot of value to our team.” he said.
He then talked about the idea behind the acquisition of Nuwan Untilhara. He said that with his unorthodox action, he is the X factor of the team.
” Nuwan Untilhara came into the equation in the last month or two. In fact, I was in the T10 competition that was played in Abu Dhabi. I saw him there, he was bowling well, he picked up a lot of wickets and he didn’t get killed either. Polly was also playing in that competition, so she was able to take it on.” He added more.
Boucher also eluded to the fact that Lasith Malinga had worked with him before and had seen him play up close. Malinga will return to Mumbai Indians as the new fast bowling coach.
“Mali has also worked with him before. It was the right choice for all of us, we were all very happy. Mahela has also been close to him, so he was the right choice for all of us. “He gives us a lot of variation and we have seen that in the IPL, if you have something different you become an X-factor player and he will be our X-factor player.” Boucher concluded by saying.
Mumbai Indians IPL 2024 Team: Hardik Pandya (changed), Akash Madhwal, Arjun Tendulkar, Cameron Green, Dewald Brevis, Ishan Kishan, Jason Behrendorff, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, N. Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Piyush Chawla, Rohit Sharma, Romario Shepherd (changed) , Shams Mulani, Surya Kumar Yadav, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Gerald Coetzee, Dilshan Madhushanka, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Untilhara, Naman Dheer, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma.
Also Read: Suryakumar Yadav ruled out of international cricket due to ankle injury till February: reports