Mumbai Indians and their retentions: How did they manage to keep their entire spine intact for the upcoming season.
Mumbai Indians and their retentions were not exactly a big surprise.
But how did the Mumbai Indians (MI) keep their core group of four superstars. Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and Suryakumar Yadav. As well as Tilak Varma, within the INR 75 crore minimum retention fee that the IPL stipulates for five players?
The players themselves decided on the retention order. This despite MI’s senior management—including Mahela Jayawardene, who just returned as head coach. Thinking that Rohit, Bumrah, Hardik, and Suryakumar should receive equal compensation.
When Jayawardene met with the players in early October to discuss the disappointing IPL 2024, in which the five-time champions finished last, he and Mumbai’s senior management, including owner Akash Ambani, were far from finalising the specifics and the individual sums.
During this time, there were two meetings between the players and the management. The plan was to discuss candidly the results of the previous season. As part of the discussions, everyone shared what they thought had and hadn’t worked. Before the retentions were confirmed, the players in question were also asked to clarify their desires.
It is known that Suryakumar was curious about the franchise’s future plans for him. After the T20 World Cup, Suryakumar took Rohit’s place as India’s T20I captain, and he is eager to lead MI as well. The team informed him that Hardik was expected to stay captain at least for the foreseeable future when he took Rohit’s place prior to the 2024 campaign.
Before Suryakumar was retained, the franchise reportedly asked him if he had any restrictions. They consequently informed him that they couldn’t make any promises to him. Later, Suryakumar expressed his desire to remain with MI to the franchise. It is also thought that he expressed to the team his desire to be captain. About four weeks before to the retention deadline, on October 4, this occurred.
Rohit concurred with Hardik and Suryakumar that Bumrah should receive the highest price and retention. Despite having retired from the T20I format, Rohit also expressed his happiness at being the fourth player retained, behind Bumrah, Suryakumar, and Hardik.
During the talks, it was decided that the team ran the risk of losing its fan base if they were not informed about the direction the franchise was taking. During one of the sessions, Suryakumar is claimed to have stated: “Main mahaul banaunga [I will create the atmosphere].”