IPL 2025: Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians (MI) ended their 2024 Tata Indian Premier League campaign with an 18-run defeat against KL Rahul’s Lucknow Super Giants at home, resulting in a bottom-of-the table finish for the second time in the last three IPL seasons.
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The five time IPL champions, who played in the second qualifier of IPL 2023, were keen to make a comeback and get back to lifting the IPL trophy again. And in order to lift their sixth trophy, the Mumbai-based franchise made a huge decision of bringing all rounder Hardik Pandya back to the team in an all cash deal worth 15 crore rupees from Gujarat Titans.
Ahead of IPL 2024’s Auction, Mumbai had decided to retain the core players of their squad and added Hardik to the squad as well before the auction in order to replace Cameron Green, who was traded in the most expensive trade deal in the history of the IPL worth 17.5 crore rupees to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
But, Hardik’s return to MI had a mixed response from the fans and then things became even more worse when the MI management announced that Rohit Sharma – the most successful captain of the Mumbai Indians will be replaced by Hardik Pandya as the Skipper ahead of IPL 2024.
The decision of replacing Rohit with Hardik as the captain didn’t please the fans at all and some main players of the franchise as well were not happy with the decision and social media platforms were filled with angry reactions. The 2024 season of the Indian Premier League for Mumbai ended on a poor note as well. Now, the five time winners will be tasked with building a squad which is capable of helping them lift their sixth title around their new captain.
The auction of IPL 2025 will be a mega auction similar to the one in 2022, where Mumbai were forced to release some star players from their squad including Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya but they had decided to retain Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard.
Like the IPL 2022 mega auction, each franchise will reportedly be allowed to retain a maximum of four players for IPL 2025 as well. But, there are some rumors which say that team owners have requested the BCCI to allow each franchise to retain a maximum of eight players.
While there’s no confirmation in regards to how many players can be retained by all the teams ahead of IPL 2025’s mega auction, it’s very likely that franchises will be allowed to retain a maximum of four players each. In addition to player retention, teams will also have the option of using the Right To Match (RTM) cards in the mega auction.
If just four players are allowed to get retained, then the Mumbai based franchise will have to make some tough decisions on who to retain and release ahead of the 2025 IPL Mega Auction as they look to build a squad which can help them to get back to their title winning ways. Here are four players that Mumbai might retain:
Four Players Mumbai Indians might retain in IPL 2025 Auction
- Suryakumar Yadav
The World’s number one T20 International batter, Suryakumar Yadav joined the Mumbai Indians in 2018 and impressed in his very first season, amassing 512 runs which included four fifties at a decent strike rate of 133.33. But, as his career progressed, the 33 year old not only expanded his range of shots, he also succeeded in batting at a strike rate of more than 145. Currently, SKY is the most irreplaceable player for any side out there and is likely to get retained by MI in the mega auction once again.
- Jasprit Bumrah
The best bowler in all formats of the game, Jasprit Bumrah is a force to reckon with for the Mumbai Indians. The 30 year old speedster joined MI in 2013 and impressed immediately on his debut as he got the precious wicket of Virat Kohli in his very first IPL match. His career has progressed a lot since then and he has improved even more with time. Bumrah has picked up 165 wickets in 133 matches in the Indian Premier League and has bowled at an outstanding economy rate of 7.30. In IPL 2024 as well, Bumrah managed to bowl at an economy of 6.48 while the others bowled at more than 10. The 30 year old has proven to be a crucial match winner for the Mumbai based franchise since his debut and imagining him playing for any other team is really hard.
- Tilak Verma
Tilak Verma started his IPL journey with the five time winners in 2022 where he had a fantastic debut season as he managed to score 397 runs in 14 encounters which consisted of two important fifties. Since his debut in 2022, Tilak has gone to become one of the most important players for the Mumbai based franchise and has taken up the important responsibility of batting at number four and rescuing his team from tough situations. The 21 year old had a breakthrough IPL 2024 season as he amassed 416 runs in 13 matches at a really good strike rate of 149.64. The Hyderabad born player has a bright future ahead of him and not retaining him might prove to be a major blunder for the Mumbai Indians.
- Hardik Pandya
Ahead of IPL 2024, MI decided to trade Hardik Pandya in an all cash deal from 2022 winners Gujarat Titans and even decided to give him the leadership duties. However, this decision backfired and the joint most successful IPL franchise finished IPL 2024 at the bottom of the table after winning just four matches under the leadership of Hardik. But, the all rounder is a proven match winner and has played memorable and rescuing innings for both India and Mumbai Indians. It’s highly unlikely that the MI management will lose faith in Hardik after just one season and will back him as the skipper in the near future.
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