Mumbai Indians pack a 'paanch'

India skipper Rohit Sharma during a practice session at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday. Pic/Atul Kamble

Indian captain Rohit Sharma on Thursday backed the franchise's move to retain five national team players in the Mumbai Indians squad for IPL 2025, while skipper Hardik Pandya summed it up as "five fingers, but one fist."

Mumbai Indians chose to retain Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Pandya, Rohit and Tilak Varma as the IPL franchises submitted their list of retentions ahead of the mega auction that will be taking place later this month.

"The players who are representing the national team at the highest level should get the preference. It's a very tough one when you come into a fresh auction and you start retaining players," former MI skipper Rohit said after being retained by the five-time IPL champs.

‘We can have a good auction'

After a disastrous last season where they finished at the bottom of the 10-team league, Rohit said MI will look to put their best foot forward in the next edition. "With Mumbai, we have always tried maintaining a core group of players. Moving forward, I just feel that we can have a good auction and create a group of players who can be match-winners for us. We will put the right foot forward and bring the legacy back where it belongs."

Heinrich Klaasen

There has also been plenty of chatter around Rohit's future in the side after he was replaced by Hardik as captain before the start of last year's tournament.

Hardik will be eager to start afresh after last season's disappointment in a franchise with whom he has achieved a lot of success as a player. "Everything that I've achieved in my life has been part of Mumbai Indians. We remember, as a group, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. Five people who we all have cherished a lot of good memories together. We are as one. We are five fingers but one fist. That's how I look at it," Pandya said.

Also Read: Will Wankhede help Rohit Sharma get mojo back?

Meanwhile, South African Heinrich Klaasen with R23 crore valuation pipped none other than peerless RCB's Virat Kohli (R21 crore) to emerge as the most expensive retention.

Pant parts ways with DC

Captains Rishabh Pant, LSG's KL Rahul and KKR's Shreyas Iyer will headline the list of big-ticket India names heading to the mega auction after not being retained by their respective franchises. DC thus ended a nine-year association with Pant.

Other retentions:

MI: Jasprit Bumrah (Rs 18 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 16.35 crore), Hardik Pandya (Rs 16.35 crore), Rohit Sharma (Rs 16.30 crore), NT Tilak Varma (Rs 8 crore). Retention Price: Rs 75 crore. Purse for auction: Rs 45 crore. RTM: 1

DC: Axar Patel (Rs 16.5 crore), Kuldeep Yadav (Rs 13.25 crore), Tristan Stubbs (s R10 crore), Abhisek Porel (Rs 4 crore). Purse for Auction: Rs 76.25 crore. RTM: 2

RCB: Virat Kohli (Rs 21 cr), Rajat Patidar (Rs 11 cr) and Yash Dayal (Rs 5 crore) Rs 37 crore. Purse for Auction: Rs 83 crore. RTM: 3

PBKS: R9.5 crore. Purse for Auction: R110.5 crore RTM: 4

KKR: Rinku Singh (Rs 13 crore) Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 12 crore) Sunil Narine (Rs 12 crore), Andre Russell (Rs 12 crore), Harshit Rana (Rs 4 crore), Ramandeep (Rs 4 crore). Retention: Rs 57 crore. Purse for Auction: Rs 63 crore. RTM: 0.

LSG: Nicholas Pooran (Rs 21 crore) Ravi Bishnoi (Rs 11 crore), Mayank Yadav (Rs 11 crore), Mohsin Khan (Rs 4 crore), Ayush Badoni (Rs 4 cr). Retention: Rs 51 crore. Purse for Auction: Rs 69 crore

SRH: Pat Cummins (Rs 18 crore), Abhishek Sharma (Rs 14 crore) Nitish Reddy (Rs 6 crore), Klaasen (Rs 23 crore), Travis Head (Rs 14 cr) Retention: Rs 75 crore. Purse for Auction: Rs 45 crore. RTM: 1

CSK: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Rs 18 cr), Matheesha Pathirana (Rs 13 cr), Shivam Dube (Rs 12 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (Rs 18 cr), MS Dhoni (Rs 4 crore). Retention: Rs 65 crore. Purse for Auction: Rs 55 cr. RTM 1.

RR: Sanju Samson (Rs 18 crore), Yashasvi Jaiswal (Rs 18 crore), Riyan Parag (Rs 14 crore), Dhruv Jurel (Rs 14 crore), Shimron Hetmyer (Rs 11 crore), Sandeep Sharma (Rs 4 crore) Retention: Rs 79 crore (will be adusted) Purse for Auction: Rs 41 crore RTM: 0

GT: Rashid Khan (Rs 18 crore), Shubman Gill (Rs 16.5 crore), B Sai Sudharsan (Rs 8.5 cr), Rahul Tewatia (Rs 4 cr), M Shahrukh Khan (Rs 4 cr), Retention: Rs 51 crore Purse for Auction: Rs 69 crore.

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