Former Indian batter Subramaniam Badrinath has shed light on the Mumbai Indians’ retention strategy for IPL 2026 ahead of the deadline. The former CSK batter said the five-time champions can release fast bowler Deepak Chahar and they can retain the rest of the players.
The swing pacer from Rajasthan bagged 11 wickets in 14 matches in the previous season. Meanwhile, MI was knocked out of IPL 2025 after they lost the second qualifier against Punjab Kings.
“MI are an amazing team. There is nothing to say about them. Maybe they can think about replacing someone like Deepak Chahar. Apart from that, they don’t need anyone else. Rohit Sharma, Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Trent Boult, can go on and on. What else does a team need? Even Mitchell Santner and Ryan Rickelton. So they just need another two to three players, and it’ll be a gun team,” Badrinath said (via Star Sports Instagram handle).
Meanwhile, Badrinath said MI has a potent squad and they can beat any International T20 team.
“The Mumbai Indians can beat any international T20 team. Give any international team, and the Mumbai Indians can beat them on the day. They don’t have to change anything. They can add some bits and pieces players in the auction, but the core team is set,” said Badrinath (via the aforementioned source).
MI has won the IPL title on five occasions and they have been a consistent unit over the years. The likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and Rohit Sharma have performed consistently for the team.
The IPL franchises will release the list of their retained players before November 15, which is the deadline date. IPL 2026 mini-auction is likely to be scheduled on December 15.
