Hardik Pandya was not included in Mumbai Indians’ retained players’ list ahead of Indian Premier League 2022. The all-rounder could be bought again by the 5-time champions in the 2022 mega-auction.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya on Thursday hinted that he may not return to Mumbai Indians for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 after he wasn’t retained by the five-time winning franchise on Wednesday.
Hardik Pandya: Every Moment With Mumbai Indians Has A Special Place In Heart
“My journey with @mipaltan. I’ll carry these memories with me for the rest of my life, I’ll carry these moments with me for the rest of my life. The friends I’ve made, the bonds that were formed, the people, the fans, I’ll always be grateful.
“I’ve grown not just as a player but... as a person. I came here as a youngster with big dreams: we won together, we lost together, we fought together. Every moment with this team has a special place in my heart. They say all good things must end but @mipaltan will remain in my heart forever,” Hardik Pandya tweeted.
Mumbai Indians retained captain Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Kieron Pollard, and Suryakumar Yadav for IPL 2022. IPL retention rules allow franchises to hang on to four players out of which two can be overseas cricketers. The franchise will be spending Rs 42 crore if they retain 4 players, leaving them with Rs 48 crore to spend in the IPL 2022 mega-auctions in January.
In 2015, Mumbai Indians had bought Hardik Pandya for a sum of Rs 10 lakh. But his price took a jump in the last mega auction when he was retained as a second-choice player for Rs 11 crore. He played a key role in MI’s IPL success in 2019 and 2020.
Mumbai Indians Released Pandya Brothers-Hardik And Krunal But Retained Kieron Pollard, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrsah
Rohit Sharma was the obvious choice as he is the most successful captain with five IPL titles and also their star batter, who has scored 4,441 runs for the team.
However, MI also picked their main all-rounder Kieron Pollard who has won them numerous matches from challenging situations and has smashed 214 sixes for the franchise. Mumbai Indians ace bowler Jasprit Bumrah was another player that the team couldn’t afford to send into auctions.
Jasprit Bumrah has picked 130 wickets in IPL for MI. Batsman Suryakumar Yadav is a brilliant player of stroke play and maintained a balance in MI’s batting line-up but had a poor outing in the last season where he amassed 317 runs from 14 games. But the middle-order batsman amassed 512 runs in IPL 2018, 424 runs in IPL 2019, and 480 runs in IPL 2020.
But Mumbai Indians didn’t retain the likes of Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, and Trent Boult, all of whom were instrumental in their success in the last few seasons of the IPL. Rohit Sharma (16 cr), Jasprit Bumrah (12 cr), Suryakumar Yadav (8 cr), and Kieron Pollard (6 cr) were retained by MI.
Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Chris Lynn, Saurabh Tiwary, Anmolpreet Singh, Aditya Tare, Quinton de Kock, Piyush Chawla, Anukul Roy, Jimmy Neesham, Marco Jansen, Adam Milne, Trent Boult, Dhawal Kulkarni, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mohsin Khan, Yudhvir Singh, Arjun Tendulkar, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, were the players who were released by Mumbai Indians before IPL 2022 mega auctions.