“To release them is heartbreaking”: Rohit Sharma repents losing key Mumbai Indians players ahead of IPL 2022 auction

Rohit Sharma repents losing key Mumbai Indians players with only 4 retentions allowed per team ahead of IPL 2022 mega auction

With the deadline date for submitting the names of players to be retained by each of the eight IPL franchises before the mega auctions coming to an end, the fans and experts of the game have started discussing and debating the decisions taken by the franchises.

Three franchises- Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), and Mumbai Indians (MI) have retained the maximum permissible limit of four players, leaving them with a remaining purse of INR 48 Crores to go with into the mega auctions set to take place next year, probably in the month of January.

While the Delhi Capitals (DC) have also retained the maximum permissible limit of 4 players, their negotiations with the players have resulted them in paying INR 50 Lakhs extra, thereby leaving them with INR 47.5 Crores in their purse.

Rohit Sharma- the current skipper of five-time world champions Mumbai Indians (MI) side has been, along expected lines, retained at the first spot by the franchise at the cost of INR 16 Crores.

The other three players retained by the Indians are Jasprit Bumrah (INR 12 Crores) as the second retention, Suryakumar Yadav (INR 8 Crores) as the third retention, and the West Indian batting powerhouse Kieron Pollard (INR 6 Crores) as the fourth retention.

Rohit Sharma repents losing key Mumbai Indians players

Post the announcement of the four retained players, MI skipper Rohit Sharma expressed his disappointment upon losing some of his ‘gun players’ from the squad due to the restrictions in the number of players allowed to be retained.

Terming it as the toughest decision the franchise had to take Rohit exclaimed, ” It was going to be the toughest retention for Mumbai this year. We’ve had absolutely gun players and to release them is heartbreaking. They’ve done some amazing work and created memories for this franchise. But, we’ve got four players including myself who can hopefully form a good core”.

The Mumbai franchise failed to retain some of their successful players over the years like wicket-keeper batter Ishan Kishan (who was reported to be one of the retained players by some sources earlier), all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya, and the Proteas wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock to name a few.