‘Ishan Kishan not worth 15 crores, not surprised to see Mumbai at the bottom’ – Shane Watson

Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has said that Mumbai wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan is not worth 15 crores INR. Kishan has struggled with the bat in the last three games after hitting two back-to-back fifties in the first two games. He has struggled to go past the 30-run mark in the previous games with a strike rate of less than a hundred.

The left-hander was bought back by Mumbai during the mega auction in February after battling with Hyderabad, Punjab, and Gujarat. The former India U-19 skipper was released ahead of the player retention last November. Talking about his team, they have lost five out of as many games and are staring down another finish outside of the playoffs.

Last season, the five-time winners finished fifth in the points table, having missed out on the playoffs due to an inferior Net Run Rate (NRR). Meanwhile, Watson has said that he is not surprised to see Men in Blue at the bottom of the points table after a poor auction. On the other hand, the former Australian cricketer added that Kishan is a skilful and talented player. However, the former cricketer believes that the latter is not worth paying such huge money. Watson also spoke about Mumbai’s call to go for Jofra Archer despite not knowing when he will return to cricket.

“It hasn’t surprised me that MI are at the bottom of the table because they had a shocking auction. Spending so much money on Ishan Kishan… He is a very talented and skilful player, but he’s not worth blowing nearly your whole salary on. And then, going for Jofra Archer, not knowing whether he is going to come back in. He hasn’t played cricket for quite a while. They have got quite a few holes in the team,” said Watson on The Grade Cricket YouTube Channel.