We have the crown, and we now have our squad of 18 to defend it, tooth and nail. At the end of an exhilarating mini auction in Mumbai, we’ve filled up the five slots we had.

The headline was the South African Express, Shabnim Ismail, who attracted a bidding war, but MI were not to relent, making sure they snapped her up for 1.20cr INR, to fill up the lone overseas slot available. Here’s what she said to the host broadcaster soon after getting picked, “First of I was excited when they started bidding for me. Happy to get the second opportunity to play for the WPL. Very happy to play for the champs. Good to play for different team and looking forward to play under Jhulan Goswami and learning from her. Will love to share my knowledge with the youngsters. Never too old to learn.”

We are just as happy to have you here, Shabnim. Here’s a fun bit of Shabnim trivia – her jersey number is 89 - as a tribute to her role model, Andre Nel, who was also a part of the Mumbai Indians #OneFamily back in 2008. Nostalgia, brimming! Welcome home, Shabnim! 

The next to come into the #OneFamily was Kerala all-rounder who lit up this year’s Senior Women’s Trophy, S Sajana, for 15 lakhs INR, followed immediately by Amandeep Kaur – the Haryana left-arm spinner, who bowls both orthodox and wrist spin, to become the third Kaur in our lineup after Kaptaan Harmanpreet and Amanjot. She was bought in for her base price of 10 lakhs INR.

Fatima Jaffer, another left-arm spinner, and Aamchi Mumbaichi mulgi, was next to come home, literally, at 10 lakhs INR. And the evening was capped off by snapping up a mystery leggie from Tamil Nadu in Keerthana Balakrishnan for her base price of 10 lakhs INR, the finishing touches on our Blue and Gold army for 2024.

Here's the full squad: