“I think Hardik Pandya will definitely be retained” – Harbhajan Singh predicts Mumbai Indians’ IPL 2025 retention strategy

Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh believes Mumbai Indians will definitely retain skipper Hardik Pandya ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. Pandya moved to Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2024 and led the franchise for the first time.

MI finished the tournament as the wooden-spooners with only four wins in 14 matches and thus Pandya could not lead from the front. Pandya scored 216 runs in 13 innings at an average of 18 and picked 11 wickets at a high economy rate of 10.75.

However, Pandya was able to turn the tables in the T20 World Cup as he scored 144 runs in six innings at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 151.57 in the T20I showpiece. Pandya also scalped 11 wickets in eight matches at an average of 17.36 and an economy rate of 7.61.

Harbhajan Singh said on Star Sports, “Mumbai Indians is a team that hasn’t played well in the last two to three years. They’ve been a champion team, a very good team, and as far as I know, they will definitely think of building a team for the future. But that doesn’t mean they won’t add experienced players this year. Last year, they made Hardik Pandya captain, and I think he will definitely be retained.

The Turbanator feels MI will retain Jasprit Bumrah and India’s T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav. The former MI player feels Rohit Sharma should also be retained by the franchise.

“Jasprit Bumrah will be retained, Suryakumar Yadav will be retained, and the question remains whether Rohit Sharma will be retained. He has just won the World Cup as a captain, so I think he should be retained, and he will be. That will make four players,” he added.

Harbhajan picked Tilak Varma as the fifth retention for the five-time champions. The former Punjab spinner reckons Nehal Wadhera could be a good option to retain as an uncapped player.

“…If there’s a fifth player, then Tilak Varma will be retained. Tilak Varma is one of those players who will be very useful for Mumbai Indians in the future to win matches. When it comes to bowling, I don’t think there’s anyone else they would want to retain, so Nehal Wadhera could be a good option for them. He is an uncapped player, so he should be picked,” Harbhajan said.

The deadline for all the 10 franchises to submit the final retention list is October 31, 5 PM.