IPL Auction 2025: Rohit Sharma’s unselfish act helps Mumbai Indians retain 'Big 4'

Before the deadline for the submission of the retention list on October 31, there were many speculations about the players to be retained by the IPL franchises. Five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians too were not sure about their retention plans.

But Mumbai finally revealed their list of retained players and were able to retain their 'Big Four'. MI retained Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, and Rohit Sharma. All these four players a part of a fabulous generation that has taken the team to new heights.

Along with all these players, Mumbai also retained the youngster Tilak Varma for INR 8 crore. Bumrah was their highest-paid player with INR 18 crore. Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav were paid INR 16.35 crore each while former captain Rohit Sharma was retained at a price of INR 16.30 crore.

Also read: Revealed: Why is Jasprit Bumrah not playing today's match vs New Zealand and who has replaced him?

How did Mumbai Indians decide captaincy role?

However, the retention of all these players wasn't an easy one for the franchise. One of the biggest problems for them was to decide who would be the captain. Under Hardik's captaincy last season, the team finished bottom of the table.

Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav is also India's full-time T20I captain now and it makes sense to make him the captain of his IPL franchise as well. But removing Pandya after just one poor season would not have been fair.

According to The Indian Express, Mumbai Indians considered changing captains at one time in the last few months. The appointment of Hardik Pandya as a captain was not even supported by the fans last season but the franchise decided to keep things transparent and conduct honest discussions with every player.

After the retention list was released by Mumbai Indians, the franchise also announced that Hardik Pandya would remain the team's captain despite India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav in the team as well.

Rohit Sharma helps Mumbai Indians retain 'Big Four'

With so much discussion and confusion regarding the prices, It was Rohit Sharma who stepped up and put his teammates above him to make the decisions smooth and simple.

“He was the one who said that (Jasprit) Bumrah, Hardik (Pandya), and Suryakumar (Yadav) play for India so they need to be in the top three,” a source was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

Rohit Sharma retired from the T20I format after leading India to the T20 World Cup 2024 title. He is no longer an international T20I player for India and will just play the format in the Indian Premier League.

With Bumrah, Hardik, and Suryakumar still a key part of India's T20I line-up, Rohit Sharma stepped back in terms of pricing to allow the other three to become the top three retentions.

Suryakumar Yadav stays at Mumbai Indians despite not being captain

Suryakumar Yadav was the last in the retained group of players to sign the contract. According to the reports, Surya was given attractive offers by various IPL franchises to become the captain. But India's T20I captain stayed committed to Mumbai and decided to continue.