After a chaotic last few days, the lid on player retention was finally lifted on Diwali as all 10 franchises announced their lists with a bang. The retention announced on Thursday (Oct 31) had some surprises, but the majority of the big-name players expected to be retained had their wish fulfilled and won’t enter mega auctions set to take place in the next few weeks. That set of players included the Mumbai Indians’ ‘fab-five’ of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya. Interestingly, despite rumours, both Rohit and Hardik have been retained, with the latter continuing to serve as skipper.
Mumbai retain fab-five
In an announcement made on Thursday, Mumbai retained big-name players like Rohit, Hardik, Tilak, Suryakumar and Bumrah for the IPL 2025 and will have one Right to Match (RTM) card in hand for the mega auctions. Interestingly, excluding Tilak, the rest of the players have led the Indian cricket team which highlights the experience of the side.
Value of the retained players
Jasprit Bumrah (₹180mn, $2.14mn)
Suryakumar Yadav (₹163.5mn, $1.94mn)
Hardik Pandya (₹163.5mn, $1.94mn)
Rohit Sharma (₹163mn, $1.94mn)
Tilak Varma (₹80mn, $950,000)
Hardik Pandya to lead Mumbai
Despite rumours and a wealth of captaincy material, Mumbai Indians have retained faith in Hardik Pandya to skipper the side. There were rumours of him not getting retained while Suryakumar Yadav could be on his way to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) if he does not get the captaincy. However, this won’t be the case as Sky and Rohit will both remain at the base of Mumbai Indians in Wankhede Stadium. On the other hand, Bumrah is the prize asset of the side with a whopping retention value of $2.14 million.
Who did Mumbai release?
With Tilak Varma getting the nod of retention, Ishan Kishan was the biggest name from the franchise that will enter the auctions. However, history suggests that won’t be the end of the road with MI for Ishan. In IPL 2022 mega auctions, while Ishan was released, the franchise paid a big sum to reacquire his services. With RTM in hand as well, Ishan could yet return to Mumbai and don their colours for IPL 2025.