"Does Rohit Sharma want to stay here?" - Aakash Chopra on Mumbai Indians' potential retentions ahead of IPL 2025 auction

Aakash Chopra is unsure whether the Mumbai Indians (MI) would want to retain Rohit Sharma or if he himself would want to stay with the franchise ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. The former India opener reckons the five-time champions have straightforward choices as their first three retentions.

Rohit led MI to all five of their IPL titles. However, the Mumbai-based franchise traded in Hardik Pandya from the Gujarat Titans (GT) ahead of the IPL 2024 auction and subsequently made him the captain, replacing Rohit.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav would be the Mumbai Indians' first three retentions. However, he wasn't convinced whether Rohit would stay with them as the fourth retention.

"The first retention should be Jasprit Bumrah. I am convinced the most valuable player of this league is Jasprit Bumrah. If you have retained Bumrah, you will also want to keep Hardik. He is your captain. Suryakumar Yadav is the Indian captain and a 360-degree player. You 100 percent want to retain him. There is no doubt that Bumrah, Hardik and Surya are your top three choices, in whichever order you want," he said (2:00).

"There will be a serious discussion on the fourth choice. Do you want to retain Rohit Sharma? That's point one. Does Rohit Sharma want to stay here? That's point two because if Rohit Sharma doesn't want to stay, he will go. If you retain him, ₹18 crore will go. Will you want to retain Rohit for 18 crores?" the former India opener added.

Rohit amassed 417 runs at a strike rate of 150.00 in 14 innings in IPL 2024. With many franchises searching for captains, there could be a bidding war if he makes it to the auction.

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"Will you want to retain them for 14 crores or 18 crores?" - Aakash Chopra on Tilak Varma and Ishan Kishan as Mumbai Indians' other potential retentions

The Mumbai Indians acquired Ishan Kishan for ₹15.25 crore at the IPL 2022 auction. [P/C: iplt20.com]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra wasn't sure whether the Mumbai Indians would be looking at either Tilak Varma or Ishan Kishan as their fourth capped retention.

"Then Tilak Varma and Ishan Kishan. You have two other such players whom you might want to retain. Both are capped Indians. Will you want to retain them for 14 crores or 18 crores? I feel three are confirmed and after that, they might use the uncapped quota," he said (3:35).

The cricketer-turned-commentator feels MI could retain Nehal Wadhera and Piyush Chawla as uncapped players.

"They might consider retaining Nehal Wadhera. He is actually a good choice for four crores. He also played well in the last two years. Can you think about Piyush Chawla for four crores, because it's four crores, it's not too much. So you can retain two uncapped Indians," Chopra observed.

Chopra opined that the Mumbai Indians might not retain more than three capped players. However, he added that they could also alternatively retain Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya for ₹18 crore apiece, Suryakumar Yadav for ₹14 crore, and either Ishan Kishan or Tilak Varma for ₹11 crore.