IPL 2018: Mumbai Indians to retain Rohit, Hardik & Krunal; Delhi Daredevils to keep Pant & Iyer

MUMBAI INDIANS is set to retain skipper Rohit Sharma along with Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya. On the other hand, Delhi Daredevils will retain Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer. 

It is learnt that the last date of submission of player retention is January 4. It is also understood that the franchises are more or less certain about the kind of players they want to retain ahead of the auction on January 27. Speaking about MI’s player retention, a senior BCCI official divulged,

"Skipper Rohit Sharma is an automatic retention having led the team to three IPL titles. Hardik Pandya is one of the big match-winners and the interesting third retention would be Krunal Pandya. Krunal being an uncapped Indian can be retained for only Rs 3 crore instead of Rs 7 crore for third capped player. Also Krunal was an exceptional performer last year."

He further added that MI’s retention is strategic and that it will allow them to buy back Kieron Pollard and Jasprit Bumrah with the 'Right To Match' cards.

"MI has been the biggest advocate of five retentions. These five are their core group of match winners and it will be surprising if they deviate from this strategy."

He further revealed that underperforming DD are still undecided about having two or three retentions but Pant and Iyer being India players are certain to be retained. The official also explained the price cap for retention.

"If you retain two capped players, you spend Rs 21 crore (Rs 12.5 crore for Player 1 and Rs 8.5 for Player 2) instead of Rs 33 crore for three capped players (Rs 15 crore for Player 1, Rs 11 crore for Player 2 and Rs 7 crore for Player 3)."

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