IPL 2018: 5 players Mumbai Indians should tie down
After the Indian home season got over on a high with a series win over Sri Lanka, the focus now shifts to the IPL auctions to be held in January. Ahead of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League, the BCCI has released guidelines for the auction and the much-awaited retention policy for the participating teams. The deadline for submitting the retention list for all the 8 participating teams is January 4th. The auction, a two-day affair, will be held on January 27 and 28 in Bangalore.
IPL 2017 was one of the most successful seasons for Mumbai Indians so far. Led by Rohit Sharma, the team finished on top of the points table after winning 10 of the 14 league stage matches. Unluckily they were defeated in the Qualifier 1 but made their way into the final after thumping down Kolkata Knight Riders in the Qualifier 2.
In the final, playing against Rising Pune Supergiant, they managed to score just 129 runs and it looked like the cup had slipped from their hands. But on the back of an outstanding bowling and fielding effort by the players, Mumbai Indians restricted Pune to 128 runs, just two short of the target. With the cup in Mumbai's camp, the team will look forward to winning it for the fourth time.
Here are five players that Mumbai Indians are likely to retain.
#1 Rohit Sharma
Retention Mode: Pre-Auction Retention
Rohit Sharma is one of the most elegant batsmen when it comes to the shorter formats of the game. He has already shown his batting abilities by scoring three double hundreds in ODIs. Also, now he has the fastest T20 international ton to his name after scoring a 35 ball hundred in the recently concluded T20 series against Sri Lanka.
In the IPL, he has terrific track record playing for Mumbai Indians, both as a captain and as a batsman. Earlier representing Deccan Chargers, he played a crucial role in the now-defunct Hyderabad based franchise winning the title in the 2009 edition. He scored 362 runs in that season and took 11 wickets which included a hat-trick in the 16 matches that he played.
Rohit has been the most successful captain in the IPL, leading Mumbai Indians to 3 title wins in 2013, 2015 and 2017 respectively. His captaincy was on test again when he led the Indian team in the recent ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka which India won 2-1 and 3-0 respectively.
The Mumbaikar is third on the list of the highest run scorers in the IPL having scored 4207 runs in 159 matches at a decent average of 32.61 and a strike rate of 130.89. He is an integral part of the Mumbai Indians setup now, and the team will look to retain him ahead of the auction.