Melbourne, March 26: Indian Premier League's (IPL) shopping spree from Australia seems unabated and the latest to sign up is West Australian batsman Luke Ronchi who was picked by the Mumbai franchise.

The hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman has secured a three-year deal with Mukesh Ambani's Mumbai team, joining the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Sanath Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga and Shaun Pollock in the Twenty20 competition starting next month, according to a report in the Herald Sun.

"I can't wait to get over there and start training with the likes of Tendulkar and (Sanath) Jayasuriya and try to gain as much as I can from the wealth of experience they possess," Ronchi was quoted as saying.

"There may be an opportunity to open the batting with Sachin in front of his home crowd in Mumbai - that would be the stuff dreams are made of," Ronchi said.

Ronchi stamped his credentials in Twenty20 after he hammered the fastest hundred in Australian domestic one-day history - 56-balls - against New South Wales in the 2006-07 season.

"It will be a tremendous learning experience for me, not just in how to play Twenty20 cricket, but in all aspects of my game because I will be surrounded by so many champions.

Ronchi will have his team-mates Mike Hussey and Luke Pomersbach in the Mumbai team.

EMAIL THIS NEWS COMMENTS No comments yet