The main question is how MI convinced Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, and Jasprit Bumrah to stay with the side.
Mumbai Indians (MI) were among the few teams to make all five capped retentions ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. They would be satisfied with their choices, for they managed to keep all big guns and retain Hardik Pandya as their captain.
The main question is how MI convinced Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, and Jasprit Bumrah to stay with the side. At least two of them were supposed to part ways with the franchise before the next season.
According to ESPNcricinfo, Mahela Jayawardene, MI’s head coach, and Akash Ambani, the owner, met players twice in October to review a mediocre IPL 2024. The probable retentions were also asked to clarify their demands before finalising retentions.
The initial decision was to pay all four big players the same amount, but players decided retention order themselves. Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav, who replaced Rohit Sharma as India’s captain after his retirement, expressed his ambitions to lead Mumbai Indians at some point.
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However, the team management cleared Suryakumar that they couldn’t promise anything, for they wanted to keep Hardik as captain in IPL 2025. Eventually, he decided to stay with MI and play as a player.
The management told players that replacing Hardik from the captaincy position after just one bad season would be unfair. The discussion was to create the right environment inside the dressing room as it would help MI and ease Hardik’s job, to which players agreed.
Further, all three – Rohit, Hardik, and Suryakumar – agreed that Jasprit Bumrah deserves the top retention and the most amount. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma also agreed to settle as the fourth retention since he had retired from the format in international cricket.
“Since I’m retired from this format, I think this is the best spot for me. The players who are representing the national team at the highest level should get the preference. That’s what I believe in and I am quite happy with it. It’s a very tough one when you come into fresh auction and you start retaining players,” exclaimed Rohit.
Finally, players agreed that fans should be provided clarity to avoid the team losing their support base. It seems like the five-time IPL champions are finally retaining stability after a chaotic last season and hope to return to their dangerous best next season.
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