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The Mumbai Indians are set to start their 2023 IPL preparation with a three-week exposure tour of England in July for their uncapped players. Apart from training at the countless state-of-the-art facilities, these young MI players will also play at least 10 T20 games against top club sides across England.
“NT Tilak Varma, Kumar Kartikeya, Ramandeep Singh, Hrithik Shokeen are some of the players who will get exposure playing against top T20 club sides in trying conditions. Arjun Tendulkar, who is also in the UK and South African youngster Dewald Brevis are also likely to join the touring party,” a media report was quoted as saying.
“Look, the Indian domestic season has come to an end. While the top players like skipper Rohit Sharma, premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah will be now on the road with the national team, our international stars will also be busy with their respective commitments,” an insider close to the development was quoted in the same report carried by PTI.
We can't call it a pre-season trip as IPL is still nine months away: Source
The MI coaching staff will be led by chief coach Mahela Jayawardene will be in England to supervise the development of the Indian players. The then added, "The ones who need to be monitored are our younger crop of players as they won't be having any match practice for three and half months before the next domestic season starts. So effectively, we can't call it a pre-season trip as IPL is still nine months away. But it is trying to monitor the progress of our core group of youngsters going forward."
This trip isn't a commercial one: Source
The source then went into the specifications of the tour where he addressed how the games during the trip will not be ticketed or broadcast anywhere, hence MI don’t need to take any permission from BCCI. Mumbai Indians will also take only those players who aren’t part of the national team and any local league.
"This trip isn't a commercial one where there will be tickets sold or the match will be broadcast on a particular channel or streamed on some app. Since the trip isn't a revenue generator, we don't need to apply for any permission from BCCI," the source disclosed. "We are only taking those players to the UK who are not associated with any national team activities or have been summoned for any of the BCCI conducted camps or playing in any league (like TNPL)."
Players who are likely to go on the UK trip:
NT Tilak Varma, Kumar Kartikeya, Hrithik Shokeen, Mayank Markande, Rahul Buddhi, Ramandeep Singh, Anmolpreet Singh, Basil Thampi, Murugan Ashwin, Aryan Juyal, Akash Medhwal, Arshad Khan, Arjun Tendulkar, Dewal Brevis (overseas).