Rohit Sharma breaks silence on Mumbai Indians releasing 'gun players' ahead of IPL 2022

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma has admitted that the team's decision to release its "gun players" ahead of the blockbuster mega auction was "heartbreaking."

In an interview with Star Sports, Rohit remarked that Mumbai Indians' retention was always going to be the "toughest" this year, and that releasing "gun players" was a difficult decision for the franchise. The Mumbai batter stated that the players who were dismissed prior to the auction did incredible work for the franchise.

The immediate goal for the team, according to Rohit, is to establish a solid team around the core players who have been retained. Rohit said that the side will keep an eye on who they can buy in the auction with the goal of finding the appropriate position for the right players. Rohit also praised the Mumbai Indians scouts for their outstanding work in identifying talent from India and throughout the world.

The eight existing teams in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday announced the names of retained players for the upcoming edition of the cash-rich tournament. Mumbai Indians have retained four players, including skipper Rohit Sharma, pacer Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard.

The most shocking omission from the Mumbai squad has been of Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who was, until the 2020 edition of the tournament, one of their key players. Pandya performed poorly in IPL 2021 as he was forced to play as a pure batter due to injury concerns. Pandya couldn't do much with the bat and finished the season with just 127 runs in 12 matches at an abysmal average of 14.11. Ishan Kishan and Trent Boult are some of the other key omissions for Mumbai Indians this year.

Full list of players retained by eight original franchises before mega auctions

Mumbai Indians (MI) - Rohit Sharma for INR 16 crores, Jasprit Bumrah for INR 12 crores, Suryakumar Yadav for INR 8 crores, Kieron Pollard for INR 6 crore

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) - Virat Kohli for INR 15 crores, Glenn Maxwell for INR 11 crores, Mohammed Siraj for INR 7 crores

Punjab Kings (PBKS) - Mayank Agarwal for INR 12 crores, Arshdeep Singh for INR 4 crores

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) - Kane Williamson for INR 14 crores, Abdul Samad for INR 4 crores, Umran Malik for INR 4 crores

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) - Ravindra Jadeja for INR 16 crores, MS Dhoni for INR 12 crores, Moeen Ali  for INR 8 crores, Ruturaj Gaikwad for INR 6 crores

Delhi Capitals (DC) - Rishabh Pant for INR 16 crores, Axar Patel for INR 9 crores, Prithvi Shaw for INR 7.5 crores, Anrich Nortje for INR 6.5 crores

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) - Andre Russell for INR 12 crores, Varun Chakravarthy for INR 8 crores, Venkatesh Iyer for INR 8 crores, Sunil Narine for INR 6 crores

Rajasthan Royals (RR) - Sanju Samson for INR 14 crores, Jos Buttler for INR 10 crores, Yashasvi Jaiswal for INR 4 crores

Image: BCCI/IPL