Sports: As the IPL 2025 mega auction approaches, all the 10 teams have finalized their retentions. With six players allowed to be retained, the franchises tried putting their best foot forward in a bid to build a team for the future. 

Five-time champions Mumbai Indians have retained much of their core group from the 2024 season. Pace maestro Jasprit Bumrah (18 crore), skipper Hardik Pandya (16.35 crore), India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav (16.35 crore), former captain Rohit Sharma (16.30 crore) and young middle-order batter Tilak Varma (8 crore) have been retained back by MI. 

While they did retain their core group of Indian players, one player who has been part of the franchise for a long period, has not been retained. MI have not retained 26-year-old wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan and the Southpaw is set to enter the auction arena. While MI have one Right to Match card option left with them, they won't be able to exercise it for Kishan. 

Ishan Kishan can't be picked via RTM by MI

According to the retention rules announced by the IPL ahead of the 2025 auctions, each franchise was allowed to retain up to six players with a maximum of five capped Indians or Internationals and a maximum of two uncapped Indians. 

A franchise can retain its players via direct retention or by using the Right to Match (RTM) card. As MI have retained five players, they still have one RTM left and can exercise it in the auction. But as they have retained the maximum limit of five capped players, the MI franchise can't exercise the RTM to retain another capped one. 

While the big four (Rohit, Hardik, Bumrah and Suryakumar) are well-established at the International level, Tilak Varma has also played four ODIs and 16 T20Is. With all five retentions being capped, Mumbai can use the RTM option only for an uncapped player. 

List of players released by Mumbai Indians:

Ishan Kishan, Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chawla, Harvik Desai, Vishnu Vinod, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Nehal Wadhera, Dewald Brevis, Shreyas Gopal, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Romario Shepherd, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Luke Wood, Jason Behrendorff, Dilshan Madushanka.