IPL 2020 | Jason Behrendorff's injury prompted MI to sign Trent Boult, reveals Mahela Jayawardene

With November 15th being the cut-off date for teams to trade out and release players, there was plenty of curiosity surrounding each and every club's tactics, planning, decision making and how they would approach the season. There were a few puzzling and controversial moves, but Mumbai Indians (MI), arguably, landed the biggest coup of the season by acquiring the services of Trent Boult, who joined the Blues from Delhi Capitals.

Coach Mahela Jayawardene has revealed that one of the primary reasons for MI to go for Boult was because left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff will miss the entirety of the season due to back surgery. Jayawardene also expressed his excitement over the possibility of fielding together the duo of Boult and Jasprit Bumrah and believes that they will be a 'lethal partnership' in the forthcoming edition of the IPL. 

“The biggest concern we had was with Jason Behrendorff having the operation,” said Jayawardene. We needed to replace him," Jayawardene was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

"Behrendorff was fantastic for us last year and when the opportunity came with Delhi releasing Trent Boult, we felt he is a world-class bowler, very lethal in our conditions and especially to partner Bumrah — that will be a lethal partnership,” the 42-year-old added.

Another notable deal Mumbai struck with Delhi was the swap of young leggie Mayank Markande with all-rounder Sherfane Rutherford and Jayawardene believes that Markande, who just played three games for MI last season, will have a great chance to prove his worth playing for the Delhi-based franchise. The former Sri Lankan cricketer also lavished praise on Dhawal Kulkarni, who was also snapped up by the Mumbai-based franchise.

“We let go of Mayank (Markande) because we felt that he could get some game time in Delhi. And then there was the opportunity of getting Sherfane Rutherford, who we feel is an exciting talent for us.

“Dhawal Kulkarni as well and experienced bowler we needed in the squad. He is a local Mumbai boy so we had no hesitation in signing him up. So we have strengthened a few areas that were important for us and now looking forward to the auction.”