Mumbai Indians will enter the IPL 2026 auction with the least purse, Rs 2.75 crore, among 10 teams. They have a settled squad and will mostly look for the backups during the auction. The team led by Hardik Pandya looks set for now and have only five slots to fill, including one for an overseas player. Let us have a look at three players the five-time champions will target at the auction:
1. George Linde
Left-arm spinner from South Africa, George Linde, looks like a perfect backup for New Zealand's Mitchell Santner. He is a like-for-like replacement for the Kiwi all-rounder and is available at his base price of Rs 1 crore. Linde is the 158th player on the list and will be part of the acceleration round during the auction. Linde plays for MI New York and MI Cape Town and there is every chance for MI to go him if they can pick him at his base price.
2. Michael Bracewell
Michael Bracewell is another decent option available at the auction, but his base price is Rs 2 crore, which could prove to be a hindrance for the five-time champions. However, at base price, Bracewell is a very good pick and MI can think of him if no team raises the paddle. Bracewell can take on the bowlers while batting down the order and deliver a couple of overs of off-spin whenever needed.
3. Shams Mulani
Shams Mulani can be purely picked based on the Mumbai connection. He is a decent all-rounder and is available at the base price of Rs 30 lakh. MI can even go for him if there is a bidding war to secure his services. Mulani has picked up four wickets in six matches so far and conceded more than 30 runs only once in his four-over spell. Mulani's addition can be valuable for MI as they need a left-arm spinner who can bat in their squad in case they are needed to drop Santner to accomodate four overseas players in their playing XI.
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