Which players should Mumbai Indians retain and release ahead of the IPL 2026 mini-auction?
Which players should Mumbai Indians retain?
No-brainers: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah.
MI's 'Big Five' were retained ahead of last year's mega-auction, and none of that should change. Rohit is perhaps on the shakiest ground out of them, given his age and the fact that he takes up over 16 crores of the purse. But even he had a more than serviceable IPL 2025.
From the remaining players, the strongest candidates for retention are probably Ryan Rickelton, Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Will Jacks, Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar. Boult and Chahar were the two most expensive buys last year. They took 33 wickets between them in 2025 (including 18 in the Powerplay), and gave MI the flexibility to completely front-load their overs so Bumrah could bowl predominantly at the back end.
Rickelton had a terrific first IPL season. Dhir remains one of the most promising young hitters in India, and Santner's recent form with the bat for New Zealand only solidifies his white-ball abilities. Jacks was perhaps unexpectedly good for them batting as low as No.7 on occasion.
Most uncapped players are also likely be retained. Robin Minz, KL Shrijith and Bevon Jacobs on the batting front take up little of their purse, and remain potential first-teamers in the future. Similarly, Vignesh Puthur, Ashwani Kumar, Arjun Tendulkar and Raj Angad Bawa are decent uncapped squad options to have around.
Read more: Who is Ashwani Kumar, MI's new left-arm seamer who struck with his first IPL ball?
Which players should Mumbai Indians release?
There are virtually no "no-brainers" as far as release goes for MI. Prime candidates for that category are those on massive (perhaps inflated) sums of money. That said, they cannot keep hold of Jonny Bairstow, Richard Gleeson or Charith Asalanka; replacement players signed after India-Pakistan tensions interrupted IPL 2025.
But outside that, they may want to shake up the fringe overseas contingent just a bit.
South African Lizaad Williams was ruled out before the last season began and his replacement, Corbin Bosch, only played three games. But Bosch remains a solid squad player, with the ability to crank up the pace and hit a long ball. He is also a Proteas regular. Williams might be the better option to release between the pair, then.
Also read: South Africa all-rounder cops one-year PSL ban for pulling out to join IPL
Mujeeb ur Rahman was a replacement for countryman Allah Ghazanfar, and played just once. He could leave, with Ghazanfar, still 19 years old and on INR 4.8 crores, staying to get a go for at least one season. Between his injury struggles and only one appearance last season, left-arm quick Reece Topley could also be on the way out.
Leggie Raghu Sharma was an injury replacement for Vignesh Puthur, and there is little upside for MI to retain him. 26-year-old seam bowler PVSN Raju had a forgettable two games, and it remains 50-50 whether MI will see value in keeping him. Karn Sharma is an experienced campaigner, but if MI have younger alternatives in mind at the auction, they might well choose to release him.
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