Mumbai Indians, the most successful franchise in the history of the Indian Premier League and the defending Champions find themselves in a dilemma to opt for just 5 players to retain from the winning squad of 2017. For the next season, there is going to be an auction and the governing council has allowed the teams to retain a maximum of 5 players.
The Mumbai-based franchise has a bunch of talented cricketers and few of the biggest names in world cricket amongst the ranks. Over the years, they have looked to retain the core of the side before every auction and unlike other IPL teams, they have held back most of their big players each time. This year as well, they would certainly opt to use the full quota of retention.
Here are the 5 players Mumbai Indians should retain
#1 Rohit Sharma
This one is an obvious choice. The fortunes of the franchise took a drastic turn ever since Rohit Sharma was promoted as the captain. In 2013, he took over the reigns from Ricky Ponting and then the right-hander led the side to its first ever IPL triumph. 2 years later, Mumbai Indians won again under the leadership of Rohit.
In 2017, the franchise became the first side and Rohit became the first captain to win 3 titles. Apart from captaincy, his batting is an integral part of MI’s scheme of things. He is side’s leading run-getter and has scored 4207 runs from 159 games and is also 3rd on the list of all-time run-getters. Rohit Sharma is certainly not the one to let go.