Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has made a serious question over retaining Rohit Sharma by the Mumbai Indians ahead of India Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction to be held this year end. However, the spinner, who have won three IPL titles under his captaincy for Mumbai, still feels that the opening batter would be retained after winning T20 World Cup 2024.
Except Rohit, the veteran cricketer feels that Hardik Pandya will be retained by the franchise as a skipper, and then you have pacer Jasprit Bumrah, batsman Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma as they maintain their core group ahead of the mega auction.
"Mumbai Indians is a team that hasn't played well in the last two to three years.". They have been a champion team, a very good team, and as far as I know, they will surely think of building a team for the future. But that doesn't mean they will not add experienced players this year. Last year, they made Hardik Pandya captain, and I feel he will surely be retained. Jasprit Bumrah will be retained, Suryakumar Yadav will be retained, and the question remains whether Rohit Sharma will be retained, Harbhajan told Star Sports about the potential IPL retentions for Mumbai Indians.
The 44-year-old picked Nehal Wadhera as Mumbai's final pick under the uncapped category to complete their six retentions before the deadline of October 31.
"He has just won the World Cup as a captain, so I think he should be retained, and he will be. That will make four players, and if there's a fifth player, then Tilak Varma will be retained. Tilak Varma is one of those players who will be very useful for Mumbai Indians in the future to win matches. When it comes to bowling, I don't think there's anyone else they would want to retain, so Nehal Wadhera could be a good option for them. He is an uncapped player, so he should be picked," he added.
Under the leadership of Pandya, the five-time champions Mumbai Indians completed at the bottom of the table in the IPL 2024. They had just four wins from their 14 league stage matches and stayed at the bottom half of the table all season long.
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