NEW DELHI: Former Indian opener Virender Sehwag has made a bold call for the Mumbai Indians to release some of their star players, including Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Ishan Kishan, ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Sehwag believes MI should focus on retaining only Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav for the next season.
Despite having a star-studded lineup, MI are languishing at the bottom of the points table with just four wins from 13 games in IPL 2024.
Hardik Pandya took over the captaincy from Rohit Sharma ahead of the season, but the results have not been favorable.
Speaking on Cricbuzz ahead of MI's final game of the season against Lucknow Super Giants, Sehwag used a Bollywood analogy to emphasize the need for performance over star power.
"Tell me something. Having Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan in one film won't guarantee a hit. Will it? You will have to perform, right? You need a good script. Similarly, all these big names will have to come together and perform on the ground. Rohit Sharma scored one century and MI lost. Where are the rest of the performances?" said Sehwag.
"Ishan Kishan played the entire season and he couldn't last beyond the Powerplay.
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 fourth option, we will see."
Another former Indian batter, Manoj Tiwary, echoed Sehwag's sentiment and felt MI should only retain Bumrah and Surya, also suggesting that one of the two should be made captain for the next season. He advised against retaining any overseas players, including Tim David.
"I am also looking at Bumrah and SKY as the two players who will be retained by Mumbai Indians. No one beyond them, and no foreign players either. Tim David has not lived up to the hype. My advice to the management would be to retain just two players – Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah – and make one of the two captains. I am not keeping Rohit either because, looking at him, it appears he doesn't want to be retained," said Tiwary.
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