Defending champions Mumbai Indians have named New Zealand fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan as the replacement for injured Jason Behrendorff ahead of the Indian Premier League 2018 (IPL 2018). The Australian left-arm fast bowler is nursing a back injury and thus was ruled out of the action. Mumbai Indians picked McClenaghan for a base price of INR 1 Crore from the pool of players who went unsold at the IPL 2018 auction. Behrendorff was snapped by the three-time champions for INR 1.5 Crore. Interestingly, McClenaghan was associated with the Mumbai Indians squad for three years and was instrumental in their 2017 title win. McClenaghan was recently in action in Pakistan Super League (PSL). The pacer played for Lahore Qalandars and managed to pick only two wickets from four matches.

McClenaghan has thus far played 40 IPL matches and has picked 54 wickets. It will e interesting to see whether he makes it to the playing XI straightaway or not. The defending champions will open their campaign on the opening night of IPL 2018 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The Rohit Sharma-led side will be up against former champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK). The MS Dhoni-led CSK are back in the league after completing their two-year suspension.

The MI squad boasts of quality fast bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Pat Cummins, and Mustafizur Rahman. In addition to that, they have the services of match-winning all-rounders like Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya and JP Duminy.

Updated MI squad for IPL 2018: Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Pat Cummins, Evin Lewis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ben Cutting, Mustafizur Rahman, Rahul Chahar, Pradeep Sangwan, Mitchell McClenaghan, Jean-Paul Duminy, Saurabh Tiwary, Tajinder Dhillon, Akila Dhananjaya, Nidheesh M D Dinesan, Aditya Tare, Siddhesh Dinesh Lad, Mayank Markande, Sharad Lumba, Anukul Roy, Mohsin Khan.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 20, 2018 10:34 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).