Rohit Sharma Or Hardik Pandya — Who Will MI Choose To Retain Ahead Of IPL 2025 Auction?

IPL 2025 Auction: Mumbai Indians (MI) will have a several tough decisions to make ahead of the bidding war.

Rohit Sharma Or Hardik Pandya: MI might have to choose between the two ahead of the IPL 2025 mega-auction.

Source : PTI

Mumbai Indians (MI) happen to be one of the most successful franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history with five titles to their name. However, the team now finds itself at a critical juncture in their journey and need to make some decisions that could have a major impact going forward. With a mega-auction lined up ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, it is being learnt that there could be a change in the retention rules prior to the upcoming season of the cash-rich league.

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Even though there is no official confirmation yet, several media reports suggest that franchises will be allowed five retentions this year. While a maximum of three of these retentions can be Indians, two can be overseas players. That has further left MI to do a lot of thinking with Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya being the top domestic talenst that they might look to retain.

Given Bumrah and Suyrakumar's utility to the side, it would be hard for the franchise to drop them. While Bumrah, T20 World Cup 2024's Player of the Tournament, is one of the best bowlers in the world, Surykumar, India's new T20I captain and their own Mr. 360, has been among the top-ranked T20 batters globally. That leaves only one spot and two choices between Rohit- the man who has led the team to each of their five titles so far- and Hardik- the team's current captain.

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Does Rohit Sharma Want To Stay At MI?

A final call, however, could depend on whether or not Rohit wants to stay at the franchise. Notably, Rohit was removed as the captain ahead of IPL 2024 and was replaced by Hardik. With the way he has been leading the Indian team, he could still have captaincy ambitions and might even get a leadership role with quite a few franchises looking for a skipper ahead of IPL 2025. But given that he is a Mumbai boy himself and has played most of his IPL cricket at MI, he can even choose to be with MI. However, with only three Indian options to retain, will MI then back one of its greatest servants? Only time will tell.