Having returned to the playoffs in IPL 2025 and reaching Qualifier 2, Mumbai Indians – as they usually do – chose to stick with their core group and also completed three solid trades before the retention deadline for IPL 2026. For the mini auction, MI will have the least work to do, with only Rs 2.75 crore left in their purse. They released seven players from their 2025 squad: Karn Sharma, Bevon Jacobs, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Vignesh Puthur, KL Shrijith, PSN Raju, Reece Topley and Lizaad Williams along with the trade of Arjun Tendulkar. And even before the auction, have filled in some key slots by bringing in middle-order power-hitter Sherfane Rutherfod, allrounder Shardul Thakur and legspinner Mayank Markande.
Speaking about the three trades, head coach Mahela Jayawardene said that it was down to one crucial aspect: experience.
“They bring a wealth of experience; you need a group of guys who can handle that pressure,” the former Sri Lanka captain said. “Sherfane brings loads of experience, he has been around for a while and been with us many years ago. Shardul is another player like that, so much of experience. He brings that experience factor and a local Mumbai boy as well as his experience playing in Wankhede will matter. Mayank has been a warrior. When he was with us, he was brilliant as part of a championship-winning team. We have been looking at him for a while. We’ll know exactly the players we want to get as we enter the auction.”
Jayawardene added that the most difficult aspect of building the squad is to let go of young talent. MI are known for their scouting network and unearthed a couple of new talents last season too but have let go of them, in the form of Vignesh Puthur and PSN Raju. “When you are a franchise, sometimes you have to get yourself emotionally detached from the decision-making process and look at what is exactly required. It’s tough to let go of players who have been with you for a season and worked hard, specially the young guys as they work really, really hard. I enjoyed working with each one of them. I phoned them personally and explained to them about the reasons because they have the right to know why they have been let go and what they need to do to improve themselves. These are the tough conversations but it’s what franchise cricket is all about,” Jaywardene explained.
Of course the key to MI’s return to form last season was the core group they built at the mega auction after a shocker of IPL 2024 when they finished last with the drama around Hardik Pandya’s return and promotion to captaincy dominating the narrative. “When we went into the auction last year, we had a vision of how we want to go in this cycle. The retention is quite consistent with the way Mumbai usually looks at things. We have a very strong squad and we just wanted to add a few players to strengthen that. We have a very strong squad that has covered all areas. We had a good season last year. As a coach, I’m very happy with the effort that each of them put in. There are areas that we want to improve, which we will look at. They rallied around Hardik Pandya really well last season. Hardik enjoyed that atmosphere and led the team pretty well,” Jayawardene said.
On the team’s retention strategy, he added: “Consistency is key and we built our team around a core group of players and they still remain. They are very hungry for success. Rohit, Surya, Jasprit, Hardik, Tilak, if we put that in that pool. Obviously, bringing back Trent in last season’s auction. We have players with good international experience and an international captain like Mitch Santner as well as Jacksy, all these players have contributed really well. We have still developed those young talents. Hopefully they get an opportunity to showcase their skills as well. I have always said that I take one game at a time and only focus on the present. Our focus has always been to stay in the present and create that value chain.”
