Mumbai Indians (MI) are five-time IPL champions, but given their performance in IPL 2024, this retention ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction was extremely important.
The BCCI had set an October 31 deadline for all ten teams to submit their lists of retained players for the IPL Auction 2025. Each team can keep six players in their squad ahead of the IPL Auction 2025.
They can even keep select players with the Right To Match option during the action. Only five of these six players can be capped, with two remaining uncapped.
There were many questions about who the franchise would keep after the previous season, in which they were the lowest performers. Ahead of the IPL 2024, Hardik Pandya had replaced Rohit Sharma as MI captain, leading to voracious protests by core MI fans.
MI finished 10th in the points table, winning only 4 games out of 14 in the season and many expected some tough decisions when it came to player retentions.
However, MI has decided to go the simple route and retained much of the core of their squad.
Captain Hardik Pandya, charismatic batter Suryakumar Yadav, and pacer Jasprit Bumrah have been retained by the MI franchise. MI legend and face of the franchise, Rohit Sharma was also retained by MI despite rumors of the 6-time IPL-winning cricketer leaving the franchise.
Their final retention for the IPL 2025 has been the talented batter Tilak Varma, who has been a huge advantage to their middle order in recent times.
"We have always believed that the strength of a family lies in its core and this belief has been reinforced during the course of recent events. We are thrilled that the strong legacy of MI will be carried forward by Jasprit, Surya, Hardik, Rohit, and Tilak - players who have become synonymous with our team and the brand of cricket we stand for.
In the past month, the MI core group, along with our coaching staff, have come together and worked closely to establish a shared vision for MI. This unified effort reinstates MI’s commitment to building strong trust and ownership amongst our core group, our fans & other stakeholders. We will strive to continue playing the passionate brand of cricket everyone expects from us," Akash Ambani, the owner of MI stated.
