“Other franchises were sleeping” - Ravi Ashwin on Mumbai Indians roping in Quinton de Kock at base price

Former Indian spinner and analyst Ravi Ashwin has heaped praise on the Mumbai Indians (MI) think tank team for acquiring the services of the South African explosive keeper-batter Quinton de Kock at his base price of INR 1 Crore in the IPL 2026 mini-auction.

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For the unversed, MI entered the mini-auction with the smallest purse remaining of just INR 2.75 Crore. However, they went on to pick a total of five players, including Quinton de Kock, Danish Malewar, Mohammad Izhar, Atharva Ankolekar, and Mayank Rawat.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin slammed other franchises for sleeping and not increasing De Kock’s bidding price. Notably, the keeper-batter was earlier part of the MI set-up between 2019 and 2021 and will make his return to the franchise in the IPL 2026 season.

“I think the Quinton de Kock buy was a good move. I think the other franchises were sleeping on their haunches, and MI snooped it up. I think MI are not sure about the Rickelton opening combination. I think MI are trying to replicate their IPL 2020 championship squad, only Ishan Kishan is not there,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

“MI had 2.75 crore, but it was as if they had 27 crore, because they bought so many players. MI already had a winning squad before they went into the IPL auction, and now, after the auction, they look even stronger,” he added.

The five-time IPL champions had already bolstered their squad during the trade window, trading in players like Sherfane Rutherford, Shardul Thakur, and Mayank Markande.

Mumbai Indians (MI) full squad for IPL 2026

Allah Ghazanfar*, Ashwani Kumar, Corbin Bosch*, Deepak Chahar, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Markande (T), *Mitchell Santner, Naman Dhir, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Robin Minz, Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton*, Shardul Thakur (T), Sherfane Rutherford* (T), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Trent Boult*, Will Jacks*, Quinton de Kock*, Mayank Rawat, Atharva Ankolekar, Mohammad Izhar, Danish Malewar.

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*denotes overseas players

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