IPL 2018: Rohit Sharma sacrifices heavy bucks to stay with Mumbai Indians

Rohit Sharma has led Mumbai Indians to three IPL titles.

Rohit Sharma | BCCI

Three-time IPL Champions Mumbai Indians recently retained their ace skipper Rohit Sharma for the next edition of Indian Premier League. The Mumbai based franchise owned by Reliance Industries secured Rohit’s services by paying him a massive amount of Rs. 15 crore.

India skipper Virat Kohli topped the retention list with a salary cap of Rs. 17 crore for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Thursday (January 4). However, it is learnt that Rohit could have matched Kohli’s paycheck had he not shown the interest to stay with Mumbai Indians.

"Rohit is a leader not just on field but off it too. We have seen him dropping to No 3 or lower down the batting order at times only to bring balance to the side. And now, his selfless gesture only goes on to proves that he keeps the team's priority over self," a close source anonymously revealed it to the Times of India.

Fondly known as Hitman, Rohit is the most successful captain in the history of IPL, having led Mumbai Indians to three titles since taking over as captain in 2013. Besides Rohit, MI retained the services of mercurial India all-rounder Hardik Pandya and top-notch death over specialists Jasprit Bumrah. The franchise now have Rs. 47 crore more in their purse to spend in the auction. The much-awaited IPL auction is scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on January 27 and 28.

Earlier, the IPL governing has clarified that the franchises will be allowed to retain a maximum of five players through a combination of pre-auction retention and Right To Match (RTM) cards. It is pertinent to mention here that two of the scandal-hit IPL franchises – Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals will mark their return to the cash-rich event in the next season after serving their two-year termination. Both CSK and RR were barred from the IPL for the past two seasons owing to corruption and fixing allegations against their respective owners during the 2013 edition.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 06 Jan, 2018

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