Mumbai Indians (MI), the five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions, are gearing up for the upcoming IPL 2025 mega auction by retaining their core group of Indian players. The franchise has decided to retain Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma.
With these five capped players retained, MI will have limited options at the auction. They can only use their one right-to-match option on an uncapped player. The individual amounts for each retained player are yet to be disclosed, but MI is expected to lose at least INR 75 crore from their purse of INR 120 crore.
MI had a disappointing IPL 2024 season, finishing at the bottom of the league under the leadership of Hardik Pandya. However, Hardik bounced back from poor personal form with significant contributions during India’s successful 2024 T20 World Cup campaign. Despite his strong performance, Suryakumar Yadav was preferred as India’s T20I captain after Rohit Sharma retired from the format.
The MI management recently held discussions with their senior players to finalize the retention plan. The deadline for franchises to submit their lists of retained players is October 31. Teams are allowed to retain up to six players ahead of the mega auction, with a maximum of five capped internationals and two uncapped players.
The IPL has set minimum deductions from the auction purse for each player retained, but franchises are free to pay more or less than those amounts. MI is expected to pay a significant amount to retain their star players, which will impact their spending at the auction.
