USA’s Mumbai-born Saurabh Netravalkar should be on MI’s wishlist

As many as 10 players from the USA have registered for the upcoming IPL 2025 Auction, and the likes of Aaron Jones and Saurabh Netravalkar are there too. These are exciting times for the USA players, who are on the cusp of making it to the mega event for the very first time. Mumbai-born left-arm pacer was exceptionally good during the T20 World Cup 2024 as well, where he made his presence felt.

MI Should Look for Saurabh Netravalkar

In the 6 matches there, he bagged 6 wickets at an economy rate of 6.63. So, come the IPL 2025 Auction he could just trigger a bidding war. If not, MI should just look to strengthen their squad with this left-armer, who has a knack of picking wickets, and is miserly, when it comes to the economy rate.

Overall in his T20 career, he has played 43 matches and bagged 51 wickets. The economy rate there too is 6.88 only. And looking at MI’s history, traditionally they have had a few left-arm pacers who have been excellent for them. In fact, after their IPL retention, they don’t have such a bowler in their ranks.

IPL Auction on November 24, 25

In the past, pacers like Mitchell McClenaghan, Trent Boult, Mitchell Johnson, and Zaheer Khan have all played major roles in bringing multiple trophies for MI, and Saurabh Netravalkar, maybe, could join that list too. Plus, to add to that, he has a Mumbai connection as well.

He played his lone Ranji Trophy match for Mumbai vs Karnataka in 2013, and then went to the USA for higher studies. Mind you, he has a lowly base price of INR 30 lakh only, and could be on other teams’ radar as well. Meanwhile, IPL 2025 Auction will take place in Jeddah on November 24, 25, that would decide the fate of 1574 cricketers, who have entered the auction.