IPL 2022 | Mumbai Indians will surely miss Trent Boult, opines Virat Kohli's childhood coach

Rajkumar Sharma, the childhood coach of Virat Kohli, feels that Mumbai Indians (MI) will miss New Zealand’s left-arm fast bowler Trent Boult in the impending Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, set to begin from March 26. Rajkumar Sharma also pointed out that it was Mumbai Indians’ big "miscalculation" ahead of the mega auction for the 2022 season after they had decided to retain captain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Kieron Pollard and Suryakumar Yadav.

Speaking on Khelneeti youtube channel, Rajkumar Sharma said, "MI will miss Trent Boult for sure and they miscalculated. Boult and Jasprit Bumrah have won them so many games. I really don’t know how they let him go.”

Boult had played a pivotal role for Mumbai Indians in their run for their fifth title in IPL 2020 in the UAE by providing them early breakthroughs. He had bagged 25 wickets in that camapign and had 13 wickets in 14 matches in IPL 2021. Mumbai instead of buying back him, bought three left-arm pacers at the 2022 auction - Daniel Sams, Jaydev Unadkat and Tymal Mills.

“To make up for Boult’s absence, they went for Unadkat, who has done well for Saurashtra recently. He has proved to be expensive, but because of his experience, there are always hopes that he can deliver. The two other left-armers have been picked as a backup it seems,” Rajkumar Sharma added.

Mumbai Indians were keen to get his services and made the penultimate bid worth INR 7.75 crore before Rajasthan Royals acquired him with the next bid. Mumbai, however, did sign Jofra Archer for INR 8 crore but he will miss the IPL 2022. Archer is recovering from an elbow injury and will make his comeback in the tournament next year.