Mumbai Indians waited long and hard for their first buy of the day in the ongoing IPL 2022 mega auction and probably everyone knew that they were waiting for Ishan Kishan to come. And as soon as the left-handed wicket-keeper batsman appeared in the auction, MI owner Aakash Ambani had the franchise’s paddle up even before the auctioneer started the bidding process.
Mumbai got a tough competition from Punjab Kings at the start and they remained in the process till the amount reach double-digit figures in crores. Once, PBKS pulled out, Sunrisers Hyderabad joined the bid and took the bid to INR 15 crore. However, MI had the picture clear in their mind and they wanted Kishan at any cost, literally and they did eventually.
Kishan, who was touted to be one of the most expensive players before the auction got interests from three teams only to land back with his previous side, the five-time champions. At 15.25 crore, Kishan was the second most expensive Indian player in the IPL auction history after Delhi’s purchase of Yuvraj Singh in 2015.
Taking to Twitter, MI shared a video with Kishan saying, “Hi everyone, really excited to be back with MI. I know everybody has treated me there like a family and I am really happy to be there and I hope I give my best when I join my team.”
Delhi Capitals led reactions to MI’s big spending with a meme saying, “Bhai paisa ho toh, kya kuch nahi ho sakta (Bro, nothing is impossible, when you have money).” Netizens joined in as they suggested MI would have felt like a Don, as they wanted Kishan from the start and they were able to get him.
Kishan, after being not retained by the Mumbai Indians before the auction, reportedly refused the offer from Gujarat Titans and decided to come into the auction pool and the decision has worked for both him and the franchise.