Pakistan pace legend Wasim Akram believes Rohit Sharma won’t be part of the Mumbai Indians (MI) squad in the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), while also hoping that the 37-year-old would join Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Akram hailed Rohit as a “great player” and added that the former MI skipper’s addition to the KKR setup, if any such deal does happen, would bolster batting depth of the team that has Gautam Gambhir as mentor and Shreyas Iyer as captain.

“I have a feeling, he (Rohit) won’t be at Mumbai Indians next season. I would love to see him at KKR. Imagine him open there, Gauti as a mentor, Iyer as a captain,” Akram was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.

“They will have a very strong batting, at that wicket (Eden Gardens). He bats very well on any wicket, he is that great a player. But it will be good to see him at KKR,” he added.

All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who completed a sensational trade from GT to MI, replaced Rohit Sharma as captain of the Mumbai-based franchise ahead of the IPL 2024 season.

Rohit led MI to five IPL titles in his 11-year stint as skipper, and the move to replace him with Hardik met with sharp criticism from the Mumbai fans.

As far as Rohit’s batting performance is concerned, he made a strong start and even slammed a century against CSK last month but couldn’t build on it.

In his last six innings, Rohit has aggregated just 69 runs. Overall, he has amassed 330 runs at an average of 30 and a strike rate of 152.78 in 12 innings so far this season.

Mumbai Indians are currently holding the ninth place in the 10-team points table with eight points from 12 matches, and even victories in the last two matches would not ensure them a berth in the playoffs.