Mumbai Indians must have suffered a happy headache while retaining the four players ahead of the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League mega auctions. On Wednesday, the franchise retained their skipper Rohit Sharma, ace bowler Jasprit Bumrah, alongside batter Suryakumar Yadav and veteran all-rounder Kieron Pollard.
Despite four of the strongest retentions, Mumbai Indians had to let go of some highly-talented players ahead of the mega auctions, including Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, among others.
However, Mumbai Indians’ Director of Cricket Operations Zaheer Khan has stated that the franchise will now be aiming to ‘get a lot of them back’ in the team during the mega-auction. When asked about the above-mentioned players who couldn’t make it to the list of retained players, Zaheer Khan said that it is not the end of the road for these players with the franchise. Speaking on Cricbuzz, Zaheer said:
“It has been an emotional time for us. You look at the positives of it. A lot of players started their journey here, groomed themselves in the best possible scenario. A lot of them have represented their country, so that’s what you feel proud about,”
He added:
“It’s not the end of the road. There’s still a chance we will get a lot of them back, so that’s the way we look at it.
“It has been a heartbreaking scenario for sure but all teams have to go through this journey. We’re no exception to that. As a professional player you understand the dynamics of franchise cricket. (And as a franchise) You tend to do the best in such a scenario.”
Furthermore, Zaheer Khan laid down the way forward for the future of the franchise. He feels that the team will be built on the same roadmap which reaped rewards for the Mumbai Indians in the previous cycle.
“The way forward is simple. The things which have been working, you stick with that. And you look ahead. There’s plenty of time for the mega auction. Preparations will start keeping this in mind. The kind of success we had in our last cycle, we will try and repeat a similar kind of success in the coming years,”
