IPL 2025: ‘Is He Worth 18 Crores?’ – Tom Moody’s Surprising Statement on Hardik Pandya’s Possible Retention by MI

Hardik Pandya’s Struggles as MI Captain

Last year, the five-time champions brought back all-rounder Hardik Pandya to the franchise as captain after his two-year stint with Gujarat Titans (GT), which proved to be a controversial decision. The decision was not liked by the fans of the franchise. MI finished last season at the bottom of the table with just four wins in 14 games, and even Hardik had a poor outing throughout the tournament, scoring just 216 runs in 13 innings at an average of 18.00, with not a single half-century and 11 wickets.

Tom Moody’s Retention Picks for Mumbai Indians

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Moody said that Rohit would be “a little disappointed” with what happened to the franchise in the last 6-12 months (Tom Moody on Rohit Sharma as MI Captain) and named Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma as his picks. “The way things went in the last edition of IPL, I think Rohit Sharma will be a little disappointed with what has happened in the last 6-12 months.

I would put Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav at 18 crores and Hardik at 14 crores. It depends on Hardik to be out of the team, or you can also judge it based on his performance, form, and fitness when you analyze all these areas with Hardik Pandya, is he worth being an 18 crore player? Is he worth it? If you want to be an 18-crore player, you have to be a genuine matchwinner and do that regularly. Hardik Pandya was struggling with both fitness and performance during his struggles and troubles in the last edition of IPL,” Moody said. Moody also questioned Ishan Kishan’s place in the team

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Ishan Kishan’s Future in MI

He also questioned young wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan’s place in the team, saying that although he is “fantastic and exciting”, he also “blows very hot and cold”. Kishan scored 320 runs in 14 matches last season, including just two half-centuries. “I look at Ishan Kishan, and I think ‘Look he’s a brilliant player and exciting, but he also blows very hot and cold. How many matches has he won with his bat.’

This is a question you have to ask. If you are paying him around Rs 14 crore for retention, will you get a return from a performance point of view? They have to make some tough decisions,” Moody said. Moody remarked that MI have had problems at the auction table in the last few years, as players like Kishan and Jofra Archer failed to deliver returns in recent seasons, with Archer missing the 2022 season and playing only five matches in the 2023 season.

MI’s Auction Challenges and the Future of IPL Retentions

Moody concluded, “They have had a bit of trouble at the auction table in the last few years. In some cases, they got caught up in too much loyalty and tried to retain players or bring them back to their team, which cost them heavily. The best examples of this are Ishan Kishan and Jofra Archer, both of whom paid a heavy price. Did they get a comeback?”

After constructive talks with the 10 franchise owners at the BCCI headquarters in July, the IPL Governing Council (GC) met in Bengaluru on September 28 to decide the IPL Player Regulations 2025-2027. PL franchises can retain a total of 6 players from their existing squad. This can be done either through retention or by using the Right to Match (RTM) option. It is up to the discretion of the IPL franchise to choose their combination for retention and RTM. The 6 retentions/RTMs can include a maximum of 5 capped players (Indian and overseas) and a maximum of 2 uncapped players