Aakash Chopra reckons Mumbai Indians will retain Hardik Pandya over Rohit Sharma ahead of IPL 2025 auctions

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra during his recent YouTube show said that Mumbai Indians could let Rohit Sharma go. According to the former India star, Hardik Pandya could be retained ahead of current Indian ODI and Test skipper. It was under Rohit Sharma that Mumbai won 5 IPL titles and India won the T20 World Cup in 2024. 

According to Chopra, the first retention for Mumbai will be Jasprit Bumrah ahead of the IPL 2025 auctions. “The first retention should be Jasprit Bumrah. I am convinced the most valuable player in this league is Jasprit Bumrah. If you have retained Bumrah, you will also want to keep Hardik. He is your captain” said the former India star. 

During the YouTube show, Chopra also said “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”

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Aakash Chopra feels Rohit Sharma doesn’t want to stay with Mumbai Indians

The former India opening batter said “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?" 

Rohit Sharma has been on a hot streak with the bat and as the captain of team India. Post the T20 World Cup win, Rohit quit T20 cricket for India. His only blip was the ODI series loss to Sri Lanka but bounced back with a Test series win over Bangladesh. 

Mumbai Indians will have to give out their retained list with the last day being 31st October. Yet another player who will be watched closely is Ishan Kishan. The 26-year-old has been inconsistent with the bat ever since being brought in for a huge sum of money in 2022. 

Aakash Chopra said “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”

“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," further said Chopra.