Head coach Jayawardene discusses the inclusion of Ghazanfar and Santner in MI squad

Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene expressed his excitement about the newest additions to the squad, Mitchell Santner and Allah Ghazanfar, for the upcoming 2025 season of the Indian Premier League.

New Zealand's Mitchell Santner joined the Mumbai-based franchise during the IPL 2025 mega-auction. Coming in at the base price of ₹2 crore, MI started the bidding for NZ's premier white-ball spinner. No other franchise showed interest, which confirmed his switch to Wankhede.

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transform: rotate(32deg); animation: shinerMooving 3s infinite; z-index: 1; filter: blur(1px); } @keyframes shinerMooving { 0% { left: -40px; } 100% { left: 150%; } } Top 15 buys at IPL 2025 Auction Rishabh Pant ₹ 27 Cr DC LSG Total Match 111 Total Runs 3284 Highest Score 128 runs Shreyas Iyer ₹ 26.75 Cr KKR PBKS Total Match 115 Total Runs 3127 Highest Score 96 runs Venkatesh Iyer ₹ 23.75 Cr KKR KKR Total Match 50 Total Runs 1326 Highest Score 104 runs Wickets 3 Best Bowling 2/29 Arshdeep Singh ₹ 18 Cr PBKS PBKS Total Match 65 Total Runs 29 Highest Score 10 runs Wickets 76 Best Bowling 5/32 Yuzvendra Chahal ₹ 18 Cr RR PBKS Total Match 260 Total Runs 37 Highest Score 8 runs Wickets 205 Best Bowling 5/40 Jos Buttler ₹ 15.75 Cr RR GT Total Match 107 Total Runs 3582 Highest Score 124 runs KL Rahul ₹ 14 Cr LSG DC Total Match 132 Total Runs 4683 Highest Score 132 runs Trent Boult ₹ 12.50 Cr RR MI Total Match 104 Total Runs 83 Highest Score 17 runs Wickets 121 Best Bowling 4/18 Jofra Archer ₹ 12.50 Cr MI RR Total Match 35 Total Runs 195 Highest Score 27 runs Wickets 46 Best Bowling 3/15 Josh Hazlewood ₹ 12.50 Cr RCB RCB Total Match 12 Total Runs - Highest Score - Wickets 12 Best Bowling 3/24 Mohammed Siraj ₹ 12.25 Cr RCB GT Total Match 93 Total Runs 109 Highest Score 14 runs Wickets 93 Best Bowling 4/21 Mitchell Starc ₹ 11.75 Cr KKR DC Total Match 41 Total Runs 105 Highest Score 29 runs Wickets 51 Best Bowling 4/15 Phil Salt ₹ 11.50 Cr DC RCB Total Match 21 Total Runs 653 Highest Score 89 runs Ishan Kishan ₹ 11.25 Cr MI SRH Total Match 105 Total Runs 2644 Highest Score 99 runs Wickets - Best Bowling - Jitesh Sharma ₹ 11 Cr PBKS RCB Total Match 40 Total Runs 730 Highest Score 49 runs Check Full Coverage

Several international spinners were left unsold while young Afghanistan spinner Allah Ghazanfar was picked up by Mumbai Indians for ₹4.80 crore.

Speaking in a video shared on Mumbai Indians' official social media handle, Jayawardene said that there were a lot more variations and x-factor spinners at the IPL 2025 mega-auction when it came to overseas options for which they added Allah and Santner in the squad.

"Obviously, we have Hardik as well as a genuine bowling option. So that's why we wanted to add that extra Indian bowler so that we could pivot to the overseas spin options. Because we felt that in the auction, there was a lot more variations and x-factor spinners in the auction when it came to overseas options. So like other teams have done that in the past, so we wanted to see that options openly, So to do that, we had to change our thinking like the way we usually play but still have those options available. So that's why we went with Allah and Santner as options, so we could pivot if we want to," Jayawardene said.

https://x.com/mipaltan/status/1862761129380126796

Allah Ghazanfar made his debut for Afghanistan recently. He got a six-wicket haul on his debut and has 12 wickets in eight ODIs so far. The youngster attracted bids from Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru . While RCB gave up early, KKR went deep in the bidding war, but he was eventually acquired by Mumbai Indians.

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