The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Saturday, announced the regulations for the upcoming mega auction for the 2025 season, reportedly said to be held in November. The IPL Governing Council, who met in Bengaluru on Saturday, to discuss the auction rules after having met all the 10 franchises at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai in July, narrowed down to six retentions for each team, which Right-To-Match card being among the options.

Former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja, speaking on JioCinema on Sunday amid the rain delay in Day 3 of the ongoing second Test between India and Bangladesh in Kanpur, reckoned that Mumbai Indians, who are spoilt for choices over their retentions ahead of the mega auction, should release Hardik Pandya and acquire their captain in the auction using the RTM card.

Jadeja felt MI should "undoubtedly" retain former captain Rohit Sharma, incumbent India T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, and release Hardik, only to take him back in the auction as he believes that the rest of the franchises are unlikely to open their account for the all-rounder given his tryst with injuries.

"I'd say, players like Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, are undoubtedly the three players who will be retained by MI. It is impossible to get these players if put up for auction. Moreover, I think that MI can use their RTM card for Hardik Pandya. Yes, the kind of player he is, you might not get him either (in the auction). But there is a chance that his injury tendencies might make the other franchises not be able to open up their banks for him," Jadeja said.

The 53-year-old also reckoned that Bumrah was more valuable than Hardik and felt that the RTM could end up proving an advantage for MI.

"If you have an RTM, they you can use their advantage. I am not saying that this decides the player's calibre or power, but if you look at a player like Bumrah and his value and then Hardik Pandya on the market, it will be a difficult business," Jadeja added.

Will Mumbai Indians take the RTM risk for Hardik Pandya?

Previously, a team could simply acquire back their player at the auction by matching the highest bid using the RTM option. However, BCCI added a fresh twist to the rule for the upcoming auction, wherein, the highest bidder will get another shot at raising their bid before the team showing the RTM card can buy back the player. For example, if Hardik is being auctioned and Gujarat Titans place their highest bid at 10 crore, Mumbai will then be asked if they would want to exercise their RTM option. If they agree, Gujarat will get the opportunity to place a final bid, say INR 12 crore, which will Mumbai will have to pay to re-sign the all-rounder.

If Mumbai do go the Jadeja way, they will have to shell out INR 43 crore to retain Rohit, Surya and Bumrah. This implies, their advantage would only lie if they acquire Hardik below INR 14 crore, the next lowest retention slab. But given the dearth of Indian fast-bowling all-rounder options, it is unlikely to happen.

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