In Search Of New Talent, John Wright Witness Ranji Trophy Quarter-Final

Mumbai Indians have a habit of asking the members of their backroom staff to visit various domestic fixtures in India, so as they can look and ink on new talent on the auction day.

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Jasprit Bumrah, team Indian’s leading pacer in limited overs format, was one of the players who grabbed the eyeballs of John Wright ahead of 2013 IPL and now he is enjoying his fair share of success in international cricket, apart from contributing to the franchise as well.

This season, again, Mumbai have started looking for talent and John Wright, team’s former Head Coach, has also started visiting various grounds and was seen in the quarterfinal game between Karnataka and Mumbai in Nagpur,

“There are many other tournaments through which this is done. However, it is easier to judge a bowler than a batsman in a four-day game. I think the first Ranji game I watched this season was the one between Delhi and Maharashtra. We have a team of people doing similar stuff. Some of us have covered the tournament from the start,” the former India coach told The Indian Express.

Many of the teams send out their members of backroom staff during the List A or T20 tournaments which are played after Ranji Trophy but Mumbai have a different process. Wright was seen during last Ranji Trophy season and in 2015/16 season as well.

Meanwhile, the majority of the franchises have got a big relief as they are allowed to retain a total of five players. A total of three players can be retained prior to the auction while other two can be acquired by the use of Right to Match (RTM) card.

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Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals can retain the players who were the members of their team in 2015. CSK would blindly retain MS Dhoni and will also hand him the captaincy duties while Rajasthan Royals spending big bucks ahead of auction looks unlikely.

This team has always looked for the domestic talent, which also paid fruits to them in the inaugural season in 2008. Though they might use their RTM card on the day of the auction; chances of them retaining any player ahead of auction looks unlikely.

Talking of Mumbai, Rohit Sharma will be an automatic choice for the side. For the rest two spots, there will be a competition between many talented players.

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Video of the day –