Mumbai Indians' reported 16-year-old Nagaland target confirmed in IPL 2021 auction pool

On January 20, all Indian Premier League 2021 (IPL 2021) franchises released a list of their retained and released cricketers ahead of the IPL 2021 auction. The franchises retained as many as 139 cricketers from their squads of the previous edition of the tournament and ended the contracts of 57 of their players. While a majority of the 57 players will once again be up for grabs at the bidding event, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently revealed several other players who will be available at the IPL 2021 auction.

IPL 2021 franchises retentions and releases

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Mumbai Indians eye 16-year-old Nagaland spin prodigy Khrievitso Kense

Earlier this month, Nagaland Cricket Association Secretary Hyunilo Anilo Khing confirmed an update on his social media accounts. He said that Nagaland’s 16-year-old spinner Khrievitso Kense was called up by the Mumbai Indians franchise for their trials ahead of the IPL 2021 auction. Kense recently made his T20 debut for Nagaland in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy season.

The BCCI have now confirmed that Khrievitso Kense will be up for grabs at the IPL 2021 auction along with several other stars of the game. The Mumbai Indians franchise is likely to go after the youngster since they saw him up close at their trials. Other cricketers to have received auction confirmation by the cricket board are Avi Barot, Chetan Sakariya, Ashutosh Aman, Kedhar Devdhar and Vivek Singh.

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Khrievitso Kense, with seven wickets in his maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy season, also turned out to be Nagaland’s leading wicket-taker of the tournament. His best bowling figures of 3-16 came against Mizoram during his side’s 77-run win over them. Remarkably, the talented youngster picked his wickets at an average of just 12 and maintained an impressive economy rate of 5.47.

MI list of retained players 2021

On January 20, the Mumbai Indians camp announced a list of all their retentions and released players for the IPL 2021 season. They released seven of their players, including IPL legend and recently-retired Lasith Malinga. Players like Mitch McClenaghan, James Pattinson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Sherfane Rutherford, Prince Balwant Rai and Digvijay Deshmukh were among others to be released by the defending champions.

On the other hand, they retained as many as 18 of their cricketers, including skipper Rohit Sharma and other star-attractions like Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah. Here is a look at the entire list of Mumbai Indians’ retentions for the much-awaited IPL 2021 season.

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MI list of retained players 2021, watch video

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Image source: IPLT20.COM and Nagaland Cricket Association