IPL 2022: Mumbai Indians retain Rohit, Bumrah, Suryakumar and Pollard

Five-time IPL winners Mumbai Indians have retained captain Rohit Sharma, middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav, pacer Jasprit Bumrah and West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard ahead of the IPL 2022, letting go of Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan.

As per the BCCI-released retention rules, the existing eight franchises could have retained not more than four players, with a maximum of three Indians (capped or uncapped) and maximum of two overseas.

Rohit, who has been the captain since 2013, and has led the team to titular triumphs five times (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020), has been one of the main pillars of the franchise. It was not a surprise, therefore, that he was the first player retained for INR 16 crore.

Rohit has played 168 of his 213 IPL matches and scored 4441 of his 5611 IPL runs with the Mumbai Indians, having been associated with them since 2011 after representing the now-defunct Deccan Chargers in the previous editions.

Bumrah, who the franchise retained as the second player for INR 12 crore, has never worn another shirt than the Mumbai Indians’, having been with the team since his IPL debut in 2013. In his 106-match career, he has picked 130 wickets at 23.04 with an economy rate of 7.42 and was understandably one of the top choices to be retained.

The pacer has been one of the chief architects of Mumbai’s victorious campaigns in 2017 (when he picked 20 wickets at 22.05 with an economy rate of 7.43), 2019 (19 at 21.53 and 6.63) and 2020 (27 at 14.96 and 6.73). Though Mumbai failed to make it into the playoffs in the most recent edition, Bumrah finished third from top in the leading wicket-takers list, with 21 scalps in 14 games.

Mumbai’s third retention for INR 8 crore, Suryakumar Yadav, defeated close competitors Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan in the retention race. Yadav has been a consistent force in the middle-order alongside Kishan, with both earning their national call-ups on the back of impressive runs in the league. Yadav did not have the best season in 2021, but has impressive numbers ever since he moved to the Mumbai Indians from Kolkata Knight Riders in 2015: 1733 runs from 61 matches at a strike rate of 137.10.

The fourth and final pick for INR 6 crore, Caribbean all-rounder Pollard also has the distinction of representing only one franchise in his entire IPL career as the team has not let go of him since 2010. A T20 globetrotter in his own right, Pollard is the most capped T20 player in the world, having played a whopping 573 games across multiple leagues in a career spanning over 15 years and counting. A veteran of 178 IPL matches, he has 3268 runs and 65 wickets in the league.

Retained players

Retention 1 – Rohit Sharma (INR 16 crores)

Retention 2 – Jasprit Bumrah (INR 12 crores)

Retention 3 – Suryakumar Yadav (INR 8 crores)

Retention 4 – Kieron Pollard (INR 6 crores)

Purse Remaining – INR 48 crores