'He will take pitch out of equation': Sanjay Manjrekar wants RCB, MI to go after 33-year-old World Cup winner

The IPL auction 2024 is set to take place outside India for the first time as the bidding war will be held in Dubai. There will be several World Cup winners up for grabs as teams look to build their squads for the upcoming tournament.

The IPL 2024 auction is just a day away from now and the anticipation is growing up within the fans as how will the 10 teams finally look like. Several big wigs will be up for grabs in the bidding war in Dubai as the teams look to prepare their armoury for a tournament-winning team. Meanwhile, as we head closer to the auction day, former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has asked franchises like Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore to go after a 33-year-old World Cup winner.

The Ex-Indian star wants the two renowned franchises to go after 33-year-old World Cup winner Mitchell Starc as he believes that Starc has the skills to take the pitch out of the equation. "Teams that have to play half their home games on absolutely flat pitches may go for him. He is one bowler in the world who will maybe take the pitch out of the equation, do all the magic in the air, get swing and the hurl in yorkers with the new ball and at the death," Manjrekar told Star Sports.

'MI could go behind Starc after letting go Archer': Manjrekar

The former batter then stated that Mumbai Indians, who have let go of Jofra Archer ahead of the bidding war, can go behind Starc. "So, teams like Mumbai Indians, who have got (Jason) Behrendorff along with Jasprit Bumrah, could show interest in him after letting go Jofra Archer," he added.

He then reasoned that RCB could sign the star left-arm seamer as bowlers tend to struggle on flat pitches. "RCB have got Reece Topley, who is a pretty good bowler, but on flat pitches where most bowlers struggle, Starc and Bumrah are the kind of bowlers who will bring the team back into the game with their bowling because they don’t rely on the pitch as much as some of the other bowlers," Manjrekar added.

RCB currently have INR 23.25 Crore in their purse, while MI have INR 17.75 Crore left in their pocket. RCB have released pacers like Josh Hazlewood, Harshal Patel, David Willey, Wayne Parnell and Siddharth Kaul. They need a few pacers and Josh Hazlewood won't be a bad option. 

On the other hand, MI have released speedsters like Jofra Archer, Duan Jansen, Jhye Richardson and Chris Jordan, among others. They are also in need of pacers.