Mitchell McClenaghan

Mitchell McClenaghan is a left-arm fast bowler who has established himself as a regular in New Zealand's limited-overs sides. He runs in hard, hits the deck even harder, and describes himself as "ultra-competitive, aggressive, maybe a little bit crazy".

He made his first-class debut with Central Districts in 2007, but was only intermittently part of the team, and his career took off only when he moved to Auckland for the 2011-12 season. In his first List A match with them, he took 5 for 30 against Northern Districts, and then followed that with 6 for 41 in his next match, against Wellington. He took 16 wickets in six List A matches that season, and 35 in ten first-class games. His reward was a place in the New Zealand squad on the tour to South Africa in 2012-13, and in his first ODI he returned excellent figures of 4 for 20, becoming only the second New Zealander, after Dayle Hadlee, to take four wickets on ODI debut.

Despite New Zealand's early exit from the 2013 Champions Trophy in England, McClenaghan had a successful tournament, picking up 11 wickets - including four-fors against Australia and Sri Lanka - at an average of 13.09. He kept up the frenetic rate of wicket-taking, and in October 2014 became the fastest New Zealand bowler - and the joint second-fastest from anywhere - to 50 ODI wickets, getting to the mark in only his 23rd match. By then he had become an important part of New Zealand's ODI attack, used in short, sharp bursts by captain Brendon McCullum and told to chase wickets rather than worrying about his economy rate.

McClenaghan was part of New Zealand's squad at the 2015 World Cup, but the depth of the team's pace resources only allowed him one match during their surge to the final. The boot was on the other foot a year later at the 2016 World T20, when Tim Southee and Trent Boult did not feature even once, but McClenaghan, preferred for his ability to bowl cutters on the slower Indian surfaces, played an important role in their run to the semi-finals.

Mumbai Indians landed a bargain when they picked up McClenaghan for INR 30 lakh at the 2015 IPL auction. He had an excellent debut season for the eventual champions, taking 18 wickets at an average of 21.44, including a three-for in the final against Chennai Super Kings. That impressive showing meant that he was retained by the franchise for the following season.
ESPNcricinfo staff