Mumbai Indians add five uncapped players

Mumbai Indians have added five uncapped players to their squad for the 2012 IPL, including Jharkhand medium pacer Rahul Shukla, Mumbai (Ranji) batsman Sushant Marathe, Vidarbha batsman Apoorv Wankhade, Mumbai allrounder Sujit Nayak and Uttar Pradesh Under-19 allrounder Kuldeep Yadav.

Shukla returns to Mumbai Indians after being part of the squad for IPL 2010, while the other four have been picked up by the franchise for the first time. Shukla, 21, has taken seven wickets at 15.71 from four Twenty20 games, with an economy rate of 7.17.

At 26, Marathe is the oldest of the five and was part of the Kochi Tuskers squad in 2011. He topped the batting averages for Mumbai during the qualifying stage of India's domestic Twenty20 tournament last October, averaging 69.66 with a strike-rate of 148.09 from four games while opening the batting.

Wankhade was the second-highest run-getter for Vidarbha in the CK Nayudu Under-22 tournament, scoring 466 runs at an average of 51.77 in six games. A statement from Mumbai Indians said the 19-year old "had impressed with his batting technique, ability to score big and quick runs and as an agile fielder."

The 22-year-old Nayak has represented Mumbai in the CK Nayudu tournament for three years and can bowl left-arm spin as well. Yadav also bowls left-arm spin and at 18, is the youngest of the five. In the semi-final of the Cooch Behar trophy, Yadav made a half-century and took six wickets against Mumbai.

Mumbai Indians have been one of the busier IPL teams in the offseason. They added Dinesh Karthik and Pragyan Ojha in the transfer window before buying Herschelle Gibbs, Mitchell Johnson, Robin Peterson, RP Singh and Thisara Perera in the IPL auction earlier this month.