'Bumrah, Hardik..' Aakash Chopra Snubs Rohit Sharma From MI's IPL 2025 Retention List
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Rohit Sharma is unlikely to be retained by Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025 (@Barkh_aa/X.com)
Former cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra raised significant doubts about Rohit Sharma's intentions to continue with Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2025 retentions. This comes after Rohit was replaced as captain by Hardik Pandya in IPL 2024.
The IPL 2025 retention rules were released last month, and the BCCI set an October 31 deadline for the franchises to confirm their retentions. The maximum retention limit is 6, including RTM cards.
That being said, Aakash Chopra has raised an interesting point regarding Mumbai Indians' potential retentions ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, focusing on the status of their key players.
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Rohit Sharma's stint with Mumbai Indians likely over!
In his YouTube video, Aakash Chopra opined that Jasprit Bumrah should be MI's first retention. He believes Bumrah is the most valuable player in the IPL. Chopra also highlighted the importance of retaining Hardik Pandya, the current captain, and Suryakumar Yadav, the Indian T20I captain. These three players appear to be clear choices for retention.
"The first retention should be Jasprit Bumrah. I am convinced the most valuable player of this league is Jasprit Bumrah. If you have retained Bumrah, you will also want to keep Hardik. He is your captain. Suryakumar Yadav is the Indian captain and a 360-degree player. You 100 percent want to retain him. There is no doubt that Bumrah, Hardik and Surya are your top three choices, in whichever order you want," Chopra said.
However, Chopra introduced a significant point of debate around the team's fourth retention, Rohit Sharma. While Rohit has been the face of Mumbai Indians for years and led the team to multiple IPL titles, Chopra questioned whether the franchise would want to spend ₹18 crore to retain him.
"There will be a serious discussion on the fourth choice. Do you want to retain Rohit Sharma? That's point one. Does Rohit Sharma want to stay here? That's point two because if Rohit Sharma doesn't want to stay, he will go. If you retain him, ₹18 crore will go. Will you want to retain Rohit for 18 crores?" he added.
Moreover, Chopra asked whether Rohit would want to stay with the team or explore other opportunities. Rohit Sharma has been distanced from the team since he was replaced as captain in IPL 2024. Hence, the fallout could result in a tragic end to a beautiful journey.
MI to continue with Hardik Pandya as captain
A report from Sports Yaari states that Mumbai Indians will keep all-rounder Hardik Pandya as captain for the IPL 2025 season despite the fans' backlash.
Not only that, the report further claimed that ex-captain Rohit Sharma could join Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) as he isn't very keen on returning back to MI after the captaincy fiasco.
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