Mumbai Indians Face Tough Retention Decisions; Ajay Jadeja Recommends Releasing Hardik Pandya for RTM

Mumbai, 30th September 2024: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the regulations for the upcoming mega auction for the 2025 season, scheduled for November. The IPL Governing Council, which met in Bengaluru on Saturday, finalized the auction rules after prior discussions with all 10 franchises at BCCI headquarters in Mumbai in July. Each team will be allowed six retentions, with the Right-To-Match (RTM) card among the available options.

Former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja spoke on JioCinema on Sunday during the rain delay on Day 3 of the second Test between India and Bangladesh in Kanpur. He suggested that Mumbai Indians, who face difficult choices regarding player retentions, should release Hardik Pandya and aim to reacquire him through the RTM card at the auction.

Jadeja emphasized that Mumbai Indians should “undoubtedly” retain Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah while releasing Hardik and attempting to buy him back. He believed that Hardik’s injury history might discourage other franchises from bidding aggressively for him.

According to Jadeja, Mumbai Indians would find it impossible to get players like Rohit, Suryakumar, and Bumrah if they were to enter the auction. Although Hardik is a valuable player, Jadeja felt that Mumbai could leverage the RTM option as other franchises might hesitate due to his history of injuries.

The former cricketer added that Bumrah was even more valuable than Hardik in the current market scenario and that using the RTM option could benefit Mumbai Indians. Jadeja clarified that his views did not question the players’ abilities, but rather considered their respective values in the auction.

The RTM rules have also been revised by BCCI for the upcoming auction. Previously, teams could reacquire their players by matching the highest bid using the RTM card. However, under the new rules, the highest bidder will get an opportunity to raise their bid before the team using the RTM card can re-sign the player. For instance, if Hardik is auctioned and Gujarat Titans bid INR 10 crore, Mumbai will then be asked if they want to use their RTM option. If they agree, Gujarat will have a chance to increase their bid, for example, to INR 12 crore, which Mumbai must match to re-sign Hardik.

If Mumbai Indians decide to follow Jadeja’s suggestion, they would need to allocate INR 43 crore to retain Rohit, Suryakumar, and Bumrah. This means their advantage would lie in acquiring Hardik for less than INR 14 crore, the next lowest retention bracket. However, given the limited availability of Indian fast-bowling all-rounders, this outcome seems unlikely.