The BCCI rolled out the retention guidelines for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season last month, and now the ball is in the team’s court to make the tricky decisions.
Each of the 10 IPL franchises can retain up to six cricketers, through the retention and Right To Match (RTM) option.
All eyes are on Mumbai Indians (MI) 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.
Notably, Rohit was sacked as captain by the MI management ahead of the IPL 2024 season. He was replaced by Hardik, who was traded in from Gujarat Titans. Hence, there have long been speculations that MI might release their former skipper ahead of the upcoming mega-auction.
If such a situation arises, ex-India spinner Harbhajan Singh believes Rohit Sharma will trigger a bidding war and fetch big bucks at the auction.
"It will be interesting to see whether he will be retained or not. If he goes into the auction pool, it will be fascinating to see which team bids for him. I’m sure many teams must be thinking along those lines," Harbhajan was quoted as saying by Times of India.
Harbhajan also spoke highly of Rohit’s captaincy and said that he has a lot of cricket left in him.
"Rohit Sharma, as a leader and a player, is amazing. He’s a top-quality player, top-quality captain, and leader. He’s a proven match-winner. Even at 37, he still has a lot of cricket left in him. If Rohit enters the auction, he will fetch big bucks. It will be exciting to see the auction unfold," he added.
Commenting on Rohit’s off the field persona, Harbhajan said: "Rohit toh yaaro ka yaar hai. Apna bhai hai. I’m happy India won the World Cup under him. It’s always great to see him smiling. He respects his elders, and that’s one of his best qualities."
The auction purse for the franchises has been set at INR 120 crore. The first three retentions will see the auction purse being reduced by Rs 18 crore, Rs 14 crore and Rs 11 crore, respectively. However, the two other additional retentions will cost more than the third. The fourth and the fifth retentions will see a reduction of Rs 18 crore and Rs 14 crore, respectively.
It means a team will see its auction purse reduced by a whopping Rs 75 crore on five players, with only Rs 45 crore left in its kitty for the IPL auction.
