Veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes the Mumbai Indians (MI) have struck a bargain by signing West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd in an all-cash transaction with the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for INR 50 lakh.
Shepherd impressed Ashwin during the West Indies’ ODI series victory against England. He was astounded by MI’s ability to pull off the strategically smart Hardik Pandya swap as well.
Here’s what Ravichandran Ashwin had to say about Romario Shepherd in a video on his YouTube channel:
“Mumbai Indians have pulled off a burglary at LSG. Hardik Pandya is himself a well-organized planned heist like we saw in Money Heist. But Romario Shephard was a little pickpocket while walking for a breeze. I feel they have given 50 lakhs for a player on the right side of his career.”
Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin explains how MI can benefit from Romario Shepherd
Ravichandran Ashwin believes Hardik’s arrival has helped MI get to the point where they may not feature four foreigners in their starting XI at first. He believes they can employ Shepherd as an impact player, which he believes might be a game changer.
According to Ashwin:
“Romario Shepherd has been in the IPL for two years and has not exactly lived up to his potential. However, he scored with a 150 strike rate for West Indies against England and picked a couple of players as well. Mumbai have a solid Indian core so with the impact player rule, Romario Shephard is a dangerous player.”
Ravichandran Ashwin
Romario Shepherd has only appeared in four IPL games, hitting 58 runs and taking three wickets at an exorbitant economy rate of 10.89. However, MI has a history of making good use of players through shrewd transactions. Shepherd’s exploits versus England might indicate that Mumbai pulled off another coup.