Mumbai likely to rope in Dhawal Kulkarni in case of an injury: Reports

Pacer Dhawala Kulkarni is likely to play in the ongoing season of the Indian T20 League. Reports are going around that he might be roped in by the Mumbai team if a player in the team is injured. Notably, the 33-year-old went unsold in the 2022 mega auction.

Kulkarni competed in all the previous seasons of the tournament, before going unsold at auction in 2022. He was however not too far away from the event, since he joined the Star Sports commentary team for the current season.

Mumbai Indians are likely to rope in Dhawal Kulkarni for IPL 2022 if any of the players get injured. (Reported by @abhishereporter).

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 20, 2022

He played for Mumbai during the first six years of his career in the Indian T20 League. He was signed by Rajasthan in 2014 and played for them till 2015. Following their ban, he played for the now-defunct Gujarat franchise in 2016 and 2017. The next year, he was repurchased by Rajasthan and remained with the team till 2019. He then represented Mumbai in seasons 2020 and 2021.

The right-arm pacer has played 92 games in the tournament and has picked up 86 wickets at an average of 28.8. He was not very economical but did not concede too many runs either. He had an economy of 8.3 in the tournament.

Meanwhile, Mumbai has been unable to score any points this season. They have lost all six of their matches and are at the bottom of the table. This season, the men in blue and gold have struggled badly with their bowling attack. Jasprit Bumrah, their spearhead of the bowling attack has also failed to take wickets. In six games, he has only  got four wickets.

Their batting has been relatively better, but their openers have struggled. Rohit Sharma (114 runs) and Ishan Kishan (191 runs) have not been able to deliver up to the expectations. The duo will have to start getting more runs for them to be successful.

Mumbai next plays against arch-rivals Chennai on the 21st of April at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai.