Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Daniel Vettori has shared his views about Mumbai Indians’ (MI) decision to let go star all-rounder Hardik Pandya ahead of the mega auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. Hardik, who is the one-half of the famous Pandya brothers, is heading into the mega auction after Mumbai Indians opted to retain skipper Rohit Sharma, pace ace Jasprit Bumrah, vice-captain Kieron Pollard and star batter Suryakumar Yadav on the retention day.
Over the years, the Mumbai Indians franchise has remained keen on forming the nucleus of the team around game-changers and seasoned campaigners while heading to the auction for a successful season in the cash-rich league. Come November 30 and it all changed for the Mumbai Paltan as the Rohit-led side had to part ways with some of the household names to furnish the final four-player list on retention day.
Star pacer Trent Boult, youngster Ishan Kishan and all-rounder Hardik were some of the world-class talents that Mumbai were forced to leave behind in order to secure the top four seasoned campaigners of the MI franchise. Speaking about Mumbai’s decision of parting ways with Pandya, former New Zealand skipper Vettori has opened up about the much-debated exit of the Indian all-rounder from the Mumbai camp.
“It’s simply about money, it has to be. There’s no way that Mumbai [Indians] didn’t want Hardik Pandya, every franchise wants him. But they would have only been able to offer him that third spot because and Bumrah and Rohit rightly take up those two slots,” Vettori told ESPNcricinfo.
Mumbai picked Rohit (₹16 crores) as the franchise’s first pick on the retention day while Bumrah (₹12 crores) secured the second spot. Mumbai also shelled out 14 crores to retain Suryakumar (₹8 crores) and Pollard (₹6 crores) prior to the mega auction.
“So unfortunately for Mumbai, they are the product of their own success. And this was Venky’s point when we were discussing with him that you develop players and you get them to a point where they are critical to a franchise but then it’s incredibly difficult to hold onto them. I am sure that Hardik Pandya would have been a top priority but they just couldn’t fit him in,” Vettori added.
