IPL 2025: Mumbai Indians to retain Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya & 4 others, reveals Aakash Chopra

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra reckons that Mumbai Indians might be one of those teams who will use all the retention slots available ahead of the mega auction. According to Chopra, MI might retain as many as six players, which will mean that they will go into the auction with just INR 41 crores with them.

Recently, MI appointed Mahela Jayawardene as the team's head coach. Jayawardene replaced Mark Boucher, who was the head coach of the team in the 2023 and 2024 seasons of IPL. However, MI had their worst season in IPL 2024 as they finished last in the points table.

Jayawardene has previously served as Mumbai Indians head coach from 2017 to 2022. During his tenure, MI won three IPL titles and became the first franchise to win five IPL titles. But in 2022, he was appointed the global head of cricket at MI and had to give up his role of the head coach.

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"Mumbai Indians are trying to retain their core" - Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra feels that Mahela Jayawardene will try to retain the core as much as possible now. While speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra mentioned that MI is trying to get back the important players who are the backbone of this side.

According to him, the capped retained players will be Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, and Tilak Varma/Ishan Kishan and the only uncapped player could be Nehal Wadhera.

"Mahela Jayawardene is back. So some changes have started happening. The Mumbai Indians are trying to retain their core as well, considering the form Hardik Pandya is in, and they have Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma/Ishan Kishan. After that, they have Nehal Wadhera," Chopra said.

Mumbai Indians might use all retention slots before the auction - Aakash Chopra

Aakash Chopra added that Mumbai will be at an advantage even if they use all the retention slots and go into the auction after spending INR 79 crores.

"I mean they have plenty. So they might retain 5+1 and reach the auction after spending 79 crores. They are the ones who are able to manage because the six players they will retain are going to be part of the XI, and all will be Indians. So they can still pull it off," he noted.

Hardik Pandya is currently the captain of Mumbai Indians and it remains to be seen whether he remains in the role despite India's national captain Suryakumar Yadav also in the team. Under Hardik Pandya, Mumbai Indians finished last in the points table last year.

Aakash Chopra speaks on Paras Mhambrey as MI bowling coach

Aakash Chopra also reasoned out why MI appointed Paras Mhambrey as their bowling coach. He believes that dismal bowling performance last season might have prompted them to go for a new bowling coach.

"They were conceding a lot of runs. If they were making 200-225, they used to concede that as well despite Bumrah being there. If you were conceding 200 runs in 16 overs, you need a lot of help in bowling. So Paras Mhambrey has come there," Chopra opined.

Paras Mhambrey had a successful stint as a bowling coach with the Indian team during Rahul Dravid's tenure as the head coach. Mhambrey also played a key role in preparing a battery of fast bowlers which India is currently benefitting.