Mumbai Indians (MI) have had a horrible start to their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 campaign, with the Rohit Sharma-led side losing their fourth straight match this season against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The five-time IPL champions are still in the race, however, having previously won the title from a similar position back in 2015.
While many fans have not yet lost hope, former MI pacer Mitchell McClenaghan is already looking into the future and has advised MI to go for England all-rounder Ben Stokes at the next auctions. McClenaghan played for the Mumbai-based franchise between 2015 and 2019.
Tweeting his views. the New Zealand pacer said, “Do Mumbai take a pop at Getting stokes next year? How much would you need in the kitty to secure his services in the auction?".
Stokes made his IPL debut in 2017 for the defunct Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS), ending the season as the Most Valuable Player. In the following edition, he was roped in for a record Rs 12.50 crores by Rajasthan Royals (RR) where he had a decent 2019 and 2020 before missing out in 2021 owing to an injury. He was slated for an IPL return in 2022 but opted out of the auction at the last minute.
“It was a bitterly disappointing Ashes campaign Down Under, but we have to learn from it and begin the job of building the team back to where we want to be. It will take time, of course, it will. Even the white-ball team took time to get to the point where we could win a World Cup.
"And we need to go on a similar journey with the Test team now, with everyone involved 100 per cent committed to doing what is necessary to improve and be among the best teams again. I want to work alongside Joe Root, the best man we could have as captain, to get us there. Test cricket is absolutely my number one priority,” Stokes wrote in his Daily Mirror column.
“It is why I thought long and hard about whether to go to the IPL or not, and felt that this was not about the money but about where my priorities are. It wouldn’t be fair on any team I signed up for if I wasn’t totally focused on things out there. I think the Test side will benefit more from me playing a number of County Championship matches this summer and getting myself as best prepared as possible for the challenges of New Zealand and South Africa,” he added.
