Ray Price joins Mumbai Indians squad

Zimbabwe spinner Ray Price has joined the Mumbai Indians squad for the remainder of the 2011 IPL season as a replacement for Australian allrounder Moises Henriques, who did not travel to India after having surgery in March for an adductor muscle injury.

Price was unsold at the original IPL player auction in January and Mumbai have now bought him at his reserve price of $50,000. He joined the squad a day before their eight-run win over Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium.

Price was Zimbabwe's leading wicket-taker during the World Cup with nine wickets at an average of 18.77 and economy-rate of 3.44. He becomes the second Zimbabwean to be involved with the IPL after Tatenda Taibu, who was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad in the first season of the tournament.

Price has built a reputation as a canny and bellicose limited-overs bowler and has risen to second place in the ICC's ODI bowler rankings after his performance at the World Cup. "Obviously you learn more as you get older and I think that has been the case with me and I'm very happy with the way things have been going for me at the moment," he had told News Day after regaining the No. 2 spot.

"When I started playing international cricket, one of my goals was to finish at the top and being ranked No. 2 in the world is nice but my goal now is to move up to No. 1. The busier season ahead will be a good opportunity for us to do well against the top-ranked teams and we have some time to prepare for that."

In addition to Zimbabwe's upcoming series against Bangladesh, Australia A and Pakistan, Price has an IPL stint in which to hone his skills.