Five-time IPL title-winning team, Mumbai Indians has announced its final retained squad and will enter the mini-auction with the lowest purse in the history of IPL. MI have made some interesting deals ahead of the mini-auction and are not expecting any further improvement.
One of the most famous franchises in IPL history, Mumbai Indians reached Qualifier 2 last season and impressed with their revamped team. They just looked settled with a few flaws that they probably fixed with trades in the pre-season.
Retained players of Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians showed no surprises with their retained players, except for a few players like Robin Minz who did not perform well despite getting opportunities. They have also retained confidence in their overseas options Mitchell Santner, Will Jacques and Corbyn Bosch, who played last season.
Maintained – Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Robin Minze, Ryan Rickelton, Hardik Pandya (captain), Naman Dheer, Mitchell Santner, Will Jacques, Corbin Bosch, Raj Bawa, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma, AM Ghazanfar.
trade done – Sherfane Rutherford, Mayank Markande, Shardul Thakur
trade done -Arjun Tendulkar
Mumbai Indians released players
The players released are also not too shocking from MI, as they have only parted ways with players who did not play much of a role for them last season. Among the players released, Karn Sharma, Vignesh Puthur and S Raja were the only players who had featured in multiple games in the previous edition.
Mumbai Indians released players: S. Raju, Reece Topley, KL Sreejith, Karn Sharma, Bevon Jacobs, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Lizaad Williams and Vignesh Puthur.
Mumbai Indians Team: Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Sherfane Rutherford, Robin Minze, Ryan Rickelton, Hardik Pandya, Naman Dheer, Mitchell Santner, Will Jaques, Corbin Bosch, Shardul Thakur, Raj Bawa, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Ashwini Kumar, Raghu Sharma, Allah Ghazanfar and Mayank Markande.
What value do Sherfane Rutherford and Shardul Thakur add to MI’s power-packed team?
On paper, Mumbai Indians looked to be one of the most balanced teams during the last season of IPL. They had two top-ranked T20I batsmen in the world, the highest run-scorer of all time in T20Is, and the world number one batsman. 1 T20I all-rounder and world no. 1 bowler, all in his favour.
Despite all these players, they lacked firepower at the end of the innings. Sherfane Rutherford is likely to be brought in to showcase his potential big-hitting skills towards the backend. Also, if he is deployed in the middle order, Hardik Pandya can be pushed back as a death over finisher.
Furthermore, despite the presence of Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah and Deepak Chahar, MI looked to be in trouble with their fourth pace option. The impact player rule allows extra bowlers to be brought in if required. Shardul Thakur’s experience and his awareness at Wankhede could be of some use to the 5-time champions.
Also read: CSK retained and released players list for IPL 2026: Chennai Super Kings full squad before the auction
