Mumbai Indians (MI), being a star-studded squad, had to make some tough calls with only a maximum of four retentions per franchise allowed. They retained captain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Kieron Pollard ahead of IPL 2022 mega-auction.

Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Krunal Pandya, Quinton de Kock, and Trent Boult will be in the IPL 2022 auction pool. The MI's Director of Cricket Operations, Zaheer Khan, spoke to Star Sports and discussed the franchise's retention discussion. 

Asked whether retaining Rohit and Bumrah was a no-brainer, Zaheer replied, "You don't have to think a lot about (retaining) them". He added that leadership qualities were one of the big factors behind the decision to retentions. 

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"There are leaders in the team who have been there for many years - and you can include Pollard in that. Pollard's journey with MI started in 2010 and now he is considered a strong finisher in this format. So, from that view, that was not a difficult decision either," he said.

"If you look at the retention list of Mumbai Indians, you will notice that there are leaders in there who have performed consistently. Yes, we had to say goodbye to the other players with very heavy heart. Overall, it was very difficult to make these decisions," he added.

Suryakumar was not only preferred over the likes of Hardik and Kishan, he also got the third spot in the retention list. Zaheer was asked about his retention and he replied, "I always say that he is a player with high potential."

Zaheer has hinted that they would look to get back some of the released players in the mega auction. "We had discussions about all the names, not just the three or four names you mentioned. Rahul Chahar was also doing very well for us.

"The big names that you mentioned - Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Rahul Chahar, Krunal Pandya - that list is very long. We discussed about everyone. The way we had to move forward and the way we could bring back the players who have been associated with us for a long time, we discussed that as well."

The five-time IPL champions had failed to qualify for the playoffs in the last season, having won the title in consecutive seasons before.