Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians are the defending IPL champions (Credits: BCCI)

The much-awaited auction for the next year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) will take place on 19th of this month in Kolkata. As many as 971 players have thrown their hat in the ring for the auction. A total of 713 Indian and 258 overseas players will jostle to make the final shortlist for just the 73 vacant spots across the eight teams. This big list of players will get pruned before it goes under the hammer at the auction.

The franchises need to submit their shortlist from the pool of registered players before the 5 PM IST deadline on December 9. The upcoming auction will not be a very grand affair since most of the teams will only add some final touches to their already existing squads. The auction for 2021 season, however, will be a grand one since the teams will h.ave to form their squads from scratch.

Mumbai Indians call up batsman for trials:

Ahead of the auction, defending champions Mumbai Indians have called up batsman Milind Kumar for trials. Currently playing for Tripura, he was previously with Delhi Capitals (then Delhi Daredevils) and Royal Challengers. At the start of the 2018-19 season, he had switched base from Delhi to Sikkim and it did wonders for him.

Milind Kumar
Milind Kumar (Credits: ESPNcricinfo)

The 28-year old ended the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy season as the leading run scorer. Impressed with his exploits, Royal Challengers Bangalore secured the services of the middle-order batsman at his base price (INR 20 Lakhs) at the previous player auction. But just like his stint with Delhi Capitals, he did not get a chance to play for the Royal Challengers either..

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Well, he can finally make his IPL debut next season if he manages to impress Mumbai Indians. According to The Times of India, the four-time champions are looking for a middle-order batsman and Milind Kumar has a good chance of getting an IPL bid.

The 28-year-old made his first-class debut for Delhi back in 2011. A regular in the team, Milind came to limelight when he scored 78* off 85 against visiting England in the practice match back in 2013. In 2017, he was selected in the Board President’s XI squad against visiting New Zealand team. In the 2018/19 season, he scored a staggering 1331 runs at a stunning average of 121. He scored six centuries and four half-centuries in 14 innings.

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