Suryakumar-Hardik-Bumrah confirmed, doubt over Rohit-Kishan

Mumbai Indians (MI) may have the toughest time when it comes to picking their retentions for the IPL 2025 season. The franchise has always relied on their strong India core, and that is one of the biggest reasons why they are 5-time champions. In yesteryear, MI might have retained 6 players without a shadow of a doubt, but the change in rules ahead of the mega auction could force them to leave some players out on the auction floor.

MI, like other franchises, has just Rs 120 crore in their auction purse and can retain a maximum of 6 players, whether through the regular retention option or RTM (Right to Match) cards. Both options might be risky. If MI retains all six in the retention order (18, 14, 11, 18, 14, 4), they’ll have to spend a minimum of 79 crores, leaving them with just Rs 41 crores to pick 19 players at the mega auction. And, if they wish to use RTM cards, they might end up paying more than what they could have ideally decided to retain them for.

Mind you, they have big names like Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan in their 25-man squad. All these are match-winners, but retaining them all would cost them a fortune and could lead them to have an unbalanced team for IPL 2025. Therefore, they’ll be forced to make a decision they otherwise wouldn’t.

MI retention list for IPL 2025

No Rohit Sharma or Ishan Kishan

Rohit Sharma has been the most important player in MI’s history. As captain, he’s led them to 5 trophies and is one of the biggest stars of the leagues. Not to mention he’s India’s captain in two formats. But it seems like the relationship has been fractured since last year. He was removed as captain and replaced with Hardik Pandya. If rumours are to be believed, he’s unhappy with this decision, and the lack of unity in the team was evident in IPL 2024.

Also, since he’s such a big name, you can’t expect him to be retained for just Rs 11 crore. If MI wishes to pay him more, that’ll leave him with an even bigger hole in their pocket. His batting hasn’t been that great in the last 5 years, and with Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah present, you might not need another leader in the team. If there was a right time to move on, it’s now.

As for Ishan Kishan, he hasn’t justified his Rs 15.25 crore tag. Tilak Varma, another left-hander, has outdone him in the last three years. Tilak averages 40 with a strike rate of 146; Ishan, meanwhile, averages less than 30 and strikes at 136. Pick number 3 (Rs 11 crore) would go to Tilak, and like the last mega auction, Kishan might come back to MI once he goes under the hammer.

18 crore picks: Bumrah, Suryakumar & Hardik

MI have three players who deserve to be the first retention. First, you have Hardik Pandya. He’s the captain of the team and the world’s best white-ball all-rounder. Second would be Suryakumar Yadav, who has been the best IPL batter since 2020 and is also India’s T20I captain. Lastly, you have the world’s and IPL’s best bowler, Jasprit Bumrah.

Now two of these will be retention numbers 1 and 4 (both Rs 18 crore), while one will have to settle for Rs 14 crore. Given that Suryakumar’s stature has risen so much that he’s been handed the Indian T20I captaincy, he’ll likely get to be the 4th retention while Pandya and Bumrah get to be the 1st and 2nd picks. However, Bumrah can be paid equal to both of them by MI, and they could be all Rs 18 crore picks.

Uncapped players

MI have some great uncapped players: Piyush Chawla, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Anshul Kamboj, Naman Dhir and Akash Madhwal. Given how often high-quality domestic players are scarce, they’ll probably risk spending Rs 8 crore by picking two uncapped players.

First will be Naman Dhir. In the last match the batter played for MI, he scored an unbeaten 62 off 28 balls, batting at number 7. Not only that, he can bat in the top order as well. Unfortunately, that means Nehal Wadhera, another proficient lower-order hitter, has to miss out.

The second uncapped spot will go to fast bowler Akash Madhwal. Although he wasn’t that great last season, in 2023, he got 14 wickets at 15.64 in 8 matches. He’s a good middle-overs bowler and would pip Anshul Kamboj, who thrives in the powerplay with the new ball. Piyush Chawla could potentially be picked for less than Rs 4 crore at the mega auction, and therefore retaining Madhwal would be a better option.

Mumbai India’s current squad

Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Hardik Pandya (c), Arjun Tendulkar, Mohammad Nabi, Romario Shepherd, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Gerald Coetzee, Anshul Kamboj, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Kwena Maphaka, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Luke Wood, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara.