How Mumbai Indians kept their Fab Four for INR 75 crore

How did Mumbai Indians (MI) manage to retain their core group of four superstars in Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav – as well as Tilak Varma – within INR 75 crore, the minimum retention amount assigned by IPL for five players?

ESPNcricinfo has learned that while MI’s senior management, including Mahela Jayawardene, who recently returned as head coach, was thinking of paying Rohit, Bumrah, Hardik and Suryakumar equal amounts, the players decided the retention order themselves.

But the details, as well as the individual amounts, were far from finalised when Jayawardene, along with Mumbai’s senior management including owner Akash Ambani, met the players in early October to review what was a poor IPL 2024, where the five-time champions finished last.

The players and the management met twice during this period. The idea was to talk openly about how the previous season had gone. Part of the conversations involved everyone opening up on what they felt had worked and what hadn’t. The players in question were also asked to seek clarity on whatever they wanted before the retentions were finalised.

It is understood that Suryakumar wanted to know what plans the franchise had for him for the future. Having replaced Rohit as the India T20I captain after the T20 World Cup, Suryakumar is keen to lead MI, too, at some point. The franchise has told him that when Hardik replaced Rohit as captain ahead of the 2024 season, the plan was to see him continue in that position at least for the foreseeable future.

The franchise is believed to have asked Suryakumar if he had any conditions before retention and also that they wouldn’t be able to promise him anything. Suryakumar told the franchise, later, that he wanted to stay with MI. He is also believed to have told the franchise that he does have captaincy aspirations. This was on October 4, about four weeks before the retention deadline.

It is understood that the senior group was told at these meetings that the franchise would retain Hardik as the captain as it would be unfair to judge Hardik on last season’s performances where he struggled with form both with bat and ball and made questionable strategic calls in the field. The understanding was that if the right sort of environment was created, it would help both Hardik and Mumbai succeed. The players agreed.

Rohit, along with Hardik and Suryakumar, agreed that Bumrah deserved the top retention as well as the top price. Rohit also said he was happy to be the fourth retention behind Bumrah, Suryakumar and Hardik considering he had retired from the T20I format.

At the meetings, it was agreed that if the team’s fans were not given clarity about the future the franchise was headed in, there was a danger of the team losing its support base. At one of the meetings, Suryakumar is understood to have said: “Main mahaul banaunga [I will create the atmosphere].”