A former Indian player has suggested that Abhishek Nair, who shares a very close bond with veteran India opener Rohit Sharma, might have asked him to leave Mumbai Indians and join the KKR team for the upcoming season.
Mumbai Indians have a short list of cricketers that they picked in the IPL 2025 mega-auction. MI finished as the second runner-up of the season after losing the qualifier to Punjab Kings.
With the retention deadline approaching, the IPL market is slowly heating up, and Mumbai Indians are looking active in the trade window. They’ve already officially announced two trades, and there’s been talk of another one.
Abhishek Nair might have urged Rohit Sharma to join KKR
Former cricketer Mohammad Kaif recently commented on the possibility of former Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma being bought from Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the IPL 2026 auction.
He suggested that newly appointed Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Abhishek Nair had a very close relationship with Rohit Sharma and might have asked the player if he was interested in playing for KKR.
“Nair would have asked Rohit if he wanted to join KKR.) According to me, Abhishek Nair would definitely have asked Rohit if he wanted to join KKR. He would have asked, 100%. But Rohit, Rohit had a chance to go last time too, but he didn’t do it. His family and kids are in Mumbai,” Mohammad Kaif said during a live session.
“So, it is convenient for him. He is almost 39 years old, so it might be in his mind that he will have to spend three-four months at KKR, where the pitch, the people, everything will be different,” he said.
Everyone here is like family to him – Mohammad Kaif
Rohit Sharma joined the Mumbai-based team in 2011 and under his leadership, he became the first IPL captain to win five IPL titles. After 13 years, his captaincy tenure ended with the arrival of Hardik Pandya in 2024.
Mohammad Kaif also pointed out that Rohit Sharma is very closely associated with the Ambani family, and hence, the star player might have considered playing for a different franchise if MI had a few different owners.
Kaif said in the same video, “Everyone here is like family to him and he also has a relationship with Reliance. If Akash Ambani or Reliance were not involved, he might have considered leaving the team.”
The real motive behind MI’s Rs 4.6 crore deal on trades
The trade window marked the transfer of Shardul Thakur from Lucknow Super Giants and then Sherfane Rutherford from Gujarat Titans to Mumbai Indians for a price of Rs 2 crore and Rs 2.6 crore respectively.
MI earned Rs 20 lakh from Arjun Tendulkar’s trade exchange with LSG, yet incurred a loss of Rs 4.6 crore. The same amount will be deducted from their purse for the mini-auction. It also needs to be kept in mind which players Mumbai Indians can release.
Additionally, two former Mumbai Indians players, Mayank Markande and Rahul Chahar, are on MI’s radar as they are also in talks with Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, this will cause them a loss of around Rs 3.2+ crore or more.
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