IPL 2025: MI To Retain Rohit, Hardik Despite Internal Rift; Bumrah Nearly Confirmed
Mumbai Indians to retain 6 players, including 1 uncapped for IPL 2025 (@mipaltan/X.com)
Mumbai Indians (MI) is probably the most confused franchise when it comes to retention, as they have a large pool of superstars to choose from. Cricbuzz reports that MI has kept everything a secret for now, but some big games are perhaps easier to guess.
Mumbai Indians' decision to bring back Hardik Pandya from GT and appoint him as captain by replacing Rohit Sharma, badly backfired as they finished at the bottom of the table in IPL 2024. And controversies with rumours of internal rift were an added bonus.
All this outside noise disrupted the internal peace, and MI is already in damage control mode by replacing Mark Boucher with Mahela Jayawardene as head coach for the IPL 2025 season.
Mumbai Indians to continue with Hardik-Rohit combination
According to Cricbuzz, Mumbai Indians have managed to keep their retention strategy a secret since several big names are on the block. Hardik Pandya is likely to remain captain despite negative sentiment amongst fans. They view him as the franchise's long-term future, and one bad season hasn't changed the top brass' perspective.
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma will be retained as well despite rumours of his resentment with the ownership and skipper Pandya. Rohit has built MI from scratch and won five trophies. Hence, he won't dump the fans' trust, irrespective of the ownership's ill-treatment.
Next obvious choice is Jasprit Bumrah. The pace sensation is a golden arm worthy of single handedly traumatising opponents with fierce spells. Suryakumar Yadav, India's T20I captain, also seems more or less confirmed as the fourth retention.
Tilak Varma is viewed as the fifth-capped player retention, with Naman Dhir emerging as an uncapped choice. Both the players are middle to lower-order batters with promising talent to cause destruction. Retaining the duo would extend MI's batting depth, which is an essential aspect of their success.
Notably, Ishan Kishan is likely to be released due to his prolonged absence from international cricket. His tussle with BCCI cost him a central contract and since then, Kishan has been struggling with instability. Interestingly, MI have no plans to rely on foreign players after their miserable experience with Jofra Archer.