Rohit Sharma isn’t leaving the Mumbai Indians (MI); that’s what his former teammate Harbhajan Singh feels. Despite being removed as captain before the last IPL season, the spinner feels that Rohit is invaluable to MI and their success. Bhajji feels that MI haven’t been great for the last couple of years, and he isn’t wrong. Since 2021, he’s finished last twice and reached the playoffs just once.
Experienced players needed
Bhajji realises that changing Rohit as captain was a long-term thinking plan after their diminishing returns but doesn’t think it’s time to move on from experienced players.
“Mumbai Indians is a team that hasn’t played well in the last two to three years. They’ve been a champion team, a very good team, and as far as I know, they will definitely think of building a team for the future. But that doesn’t mean they won’t add experienced players this year,” Harbhajan said on Star Sports.
Harbhajan Singh’s retention list for MI
Harbhajan also revealed his retention for MI ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. Fascinatingly, he thought that paying Tilak Verma either Rs 11 or 14 crore wouldn’t be a problem. Also, unlike many others, the veteran spinner virtually chose Hardik Pandya as MI’s top retention.
“Last year, they made Hardik Pandya captain, and I think he will definitely be retained. Jasprit Bumrah will be retained, Suryakumar Yadav will be retained, and the question remains whether Rohit Sharma will be retained. 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.
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