"There is no ego" - Aakash Chopra on Suryakumar Yadav staying with Mumbai Indians for IPL 2025 despite not being made captain

Aakash Chopra has noted that the Mumbai Indians (MI) did an outstanding job with their player retentions ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. He praised Suryakumar Yadav for keeping his ego aside and being willing to play under Hardik Pandya's captaincy.

MI retained Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar, Hardik, Rohit Sharma, and Tilak Varma for a combined sum of ₹75 crore. While Bumrah was retained for ₹18 crore, Suryakumar and Hardik will receive ₹16.35 crore apiece, and Rohit and Tilak will stay with them for ₹16.30 crore and ₹8 crore respectively.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener lauded the Mumbai Indians.

"What they have managed is an absolutely outstanding thing because Jasprit Bumrah would have taken 25 crores had he gone into the auction. If he had told any franchise that he wants 25 crores, anyone would have given him 25 crores, and I am pretty sure the other franchises would have approached him as well," he said (4:30).

"They would have approached him and Suryakumar Yadav as well because he is not even the captain. Hardik (Pandya) is the captain and Suryakumar Yadav is the captain of the Indian T20I team. So there is no ego. He is ready to play for this franchise and for 16.35 crores. He too would have got 25 crores if he had said he wanted to go to the auction and some other team's captaincy as well," Chopra added.

With 20 scalps at an economy rate of 6.48 in 13 innings, Bumrah was the Mumbai Indians' highest wicket-taker in IPL 2024. Suryakumar smashed 345 runs at a strike rate of 167.47 in 11 innings this season.

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"Hardik Pandya had to stay" - Aakash Chopra on Mumbai Indians' other retentions

Hardik Pandya (left) has been retained as the Mumbai Indians' captain for IPL 2025. [P/C: iplt20.com]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that while Hardik Pandya potentially deserved a bigger sum, Rohit Sharma has willingly taken a pay cut.

"Hardik Pandya had to stay, there is no doubt about that, but again 16.35 crores when Heinrich Klaasen has taken 23 crores. Then you start feeling that Klaasen is at 23 crores, Ruturaj (Gaikwad) is at 18 crores, and he is only at 16 crores. Rohit Sharma has taken a slight pay cut. 16.30 crore- he has taken a pay cut of five lakhs," he said (5:10).

The reputed commentator added that Tilak Varma would have been bought for more than ₹8 crore had he been available in the auction.

"He said that he is taking a pay cut because he has retired from this format. It's symbolic, but one is India's captain and the other is this team's captain, so they deserve to get a little more. Tilak Varma at eight crores is a steal because he would have been sold for 12-15 crores had he gone into the auction," Chopra observed.

Chopra opined that the five players the Mumbai Indians have retained for ₹75 crore would have been worth more than ₹100 crore had they gone into the auction. While noting that MI didn't spend an extra rupee than the minimum amount to retain five capped players, he added that the franchise's hallmark is that they have still managed to keep all the players happy.