Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season, all teams are set to undergo a major overhaul as mega-auction will take place later this year.
While there is no clarity yet on the number of retentions each franchise will be allowed, rumours about possible moves in some of the teams have already started.
Mumbai Indians (MI) are the most talked about franchise as they have Suryakumar Yadav – India’s current T20I captain, Rohit Sharma - the T20 World Cup winning skipper, Hardik Pandya - their designated captain, and senior fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah in their ranks.
It would be interesting to see if MI can retain all the aforementioned star players. Amidst all this, a rumour went viral on social media that Lucknow Super Giant (LSG) is ready to offer a staggering Rs 50 crore to Rohit in order to acquire his services.
Meanwhile, LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka has reacted to those rumours in an interview with Sports Tak.
"There is a rumour going on that LSG have kept Rs 50 crore separately for Rohit Sharma. Is this true?" the anchor asked.
Goenka retorted, "You tell me one thing, do you, or anybody know, whether Rohit Sharma is coming to the auctions or not? All these speculations are without any reason. Whether Mumbai Indians will release Rohit Sharma or not, whether he is coming to the auction or not, even if he comes if you are going to use 50 per cent of your salary cap on one player, how will you manage the other 22 players?"
"So is he in your wishlist?" the anchor asked again.
Goenka refused to give a clear answer. "Everybody has got a wishlist. You want best player, best captain to be in your team. It is not about wanting. What you have got and what is available. What can you do with that. This is that thing. I can want anyone but the same goes for all the franchises. You will not get everyone," he replied.
On a separate note, Sanjiv Goenka called KL Rahul 'an integral part of the franchise'. However, he remained noncommittal about player retention and the captaincy for the next IPL season.
"Look, I've been meeting KL regularly over last three years. I'm a little surprised this meeting got so much attention. As I've said we have not taken any call till the retention rules are out," Goenka told reporters while unveiling Zaheer Khan as their team mentor on Wednesday (August 28).
"But KL has been an integral and important part of the LSG family since inception. He's played a very important role. He's like family and will be family."
Speaking about the retention plans, Goenka said that they have enough time and will take a decision once the rules are rolled out by the BCCI.
"We have all of September, October and November to decide that. Let the policies be out. We have not even thought about the team going forward, whether retention will be three-four-five or six, we have no clue," Goenka said.
"Let us see, there is enough time, so bit by bit. Whatever decisions we take today will impact us for the medium term future, so it has to be very well thought out and considered."
"There is enough time for it so it's too early. Let the BCCI announce the policy first, then there will be discussions."
