Mumbai Indians retained five players for the upcoming IPL season including former captain Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya, who led MI last season. (PHOTO: Mumbai Indians via X)
How Mumbai Indians were able retain their most-sought-after stars after a nightmarish season is a fascinating IPL retention story. Keeping their core together – a collection of proven leaders – at a time when other teams were desperately looking for captains was a coup of sorts for the MI’s backroom staff. Kolkata, Lucknow, Delhi, Bengaluru were among the franchises in search of a captain.
For MI, this wasn’t easy. Those in the know say that the franchise, at one point during the last couple of months, had even discussed leadership change. It was understandable. The team under new captain Hardik Pandya had finished last in 2024 and MI had exceptional leadership options in Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah.
It was a string of meetings, long honest conversations, large-heartedness of players and a general consensus among players of putting collective goals ahead of team hierarchy resulted in MI putting on paper names the following names and figures – Jasprit Bumrah (Rs 18 crore), skipper Hardik Pandya (Rs 16.35 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 16.35 crore), Rohit Sharma (Rs 16.30 crore) and Tilak Varma (Rs 8 crore).
The order of retention shows a fine balance and nuanced signaling. The world’s best all-format bowler Bumrah is clearly the MVP, he gets the highest retention pay of Rs Rs 18 crore. The two captains – Hardik for MI and Surya for India’s T20Is – are on par at Rs 16.35 crore. As for Rohit, who retired from T20 cricket after leading India’s to World T20 title, he gets Rs 16.30 crore.
Sources involved in MI retention discussions say that it was actually Rohit who made the complex task of grading their equally-important players easier for the franchise. “He was the one who said that Bumrah, Hardik and Surya play for India so they need to be in the top three,” he said.
When it came to deciding the top retention player, it was the three batsmen – Rohit, Surya and Hardik – who agreed that it had to be Bumrah. “It has a lot to do with the respect Bumrah has in the team and his importance to the side,” said a source.
🖐️➡️👊
📹 | Watch 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 ft. Hardik Pandya 🔥#MumbaiMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians pic.twitter.com/pcCK0ZrbpP
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) October 31, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The talk on captaincy wasn’t that simple. Last season, Hardik had replaced Rohit within days of India’s exceptional 50 overs World Cup showing where it finished runners-up. The Baroda all-rounder wasn’t a popular choice, he was booed by fans during games.
There were threadbare discussions where nothing was left unsaid. There was talk about mistakes made by the captain and even team management. This was followed by an idea exchange on the remedial measures that needed to be put in place.
Finally, the core group thought that captaincy change was not the solution. “If we had made a change, it would have been three captains in three years. That wouldn’t have worked,” said a MI source.
Incidentally, Surya was the last to sign up for the MI. More than one franchise team had been chasing him with tempting offers. But he decided to stay back. “Not just that, he has told us that he will take it upon himself to keep the dressing room atmosphere perfect. At the end of the day these players have been together for a long time and they wanted to join forces to make amends for last season,” he said.
In a nutshell, what worked for MI to retain its best was a bunch of wounded players keen to bring back glory to the city that has won the most 5 IPL titles. As Rohit would say in a statement after retention: “I have played so much cricket here. This is the place where I started my cricket career. So, this is a very, very special city and I’m happy to be here.”
