IPL: Is Mumbai Indians planning to release Rohit, Hardik next season!
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2024-05-17 09:35 GMT
Mumbai: As the ongoing IPL season nears the end of its first stage, the controversies and rumors surrounding the Mumbai Indians (MI) also took the next stage.
After the never ending debate over captaincy transfer, the MI has topped headlines with their performance, reports of two camps in the team, Rohit's viral videos, etc.
The 5 time title winning franchise has once again stood in headlines after reports suggesting the release of MI star players Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya from the team surfaced online.
The reports emerged following an opinion made by Team India former captain Virender Sehwag. Viru claimed that the Mumbai side will only retain two players based on their form. It was not a surprise when the veteran player picked Bumrah and Suryakumar instead of Rohit and Hardik.
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Sehwag said, "Only two names are certainties at this stage for MI – Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav. They will be the top two names retained. And if it then boils down to the third or 4th option, we will see." Former player Manoj Tiwary and other analysts backed the dashing opener's opinion.
An official statement by the franchise is still awaited while a mega auction for the 2025 IPL season is scheduled to happen later this year.
Rohit Sharma, who initially performed well by scoring a fighting century against the Chennai Super Kings later took a beating. Hardik Pandya has completely disappointed the fans with his all round failure in batting, bowling and captaincy. Pandya, after 13 matches made only 200 runs and picked 11 wickets while it's no secret that the side is out of the playoffs race.
After the controversial captaincy transfer, many reports surfaced exposing the tensions in the MI camp. Some reports also claimed that both Rohit and Agarkar were against naming Hardik in the T20 World Cup squad but they kept silent owing to pressure.
An animated video of Rohit Sharma speaking to Abhishek Nayar also created a stir among the cricketing fans.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Indians will take on Lucknow Super Giants in their final league stage match today at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.