Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has chosen the Mumbai Indians’ (MI) first-choice playing combination as their biggest strength before the IPL 2025. He also added that the five-time champions have assembled the best players across all formats. However, MI retained Jasprit Bumrah (₹18 crore), Hardik Pandya (₹16.35 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (₹16.35 crore), Rohit Sharma (₹16.30 crore) and Tilak Varma (₹8 crore) before the IPL 2025 auction as well. They also spent ₹44.80 crore at the mega auction last November to buy 18 more players to assemble a 23-member squad as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said, “Their strength is that it’s difficult to assemble a better 11 or 12 than this. They have all the best players. You can start from Rohit Sharma, then Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks, it’s great if you wish to play both, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya. After that, Naman Dhir will still be left. The depth is incredible.”
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“If we check their bowling, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah. Can you find a better trio for the Wankhede pitch where the ball moves a little and wickets fall in the powerplay? You have got the best possible options available. In spin, they have Mitchell Santner and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. So the first 12 is outstanding,” Chopra further added.
However, Aakash Chopra also stated that the Mumbai Indians have assembled an experience-heavy squad for the upcoming edition of the
Indian Premier League as well.
“The second thing this team has kept in mind is that they have brought in a lot of experience. From Ryan Rickelton or Will Jacks to Mitchell Santner or Trent Boult, every player is filled with experience. Their entire squad has been built with the thought process of assembling experienced and successful T20 superstars of the world,” he said.
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“The acceptance was less last year. It was Hardik Pandya’s first year as captain, and it is the team that has Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, who have been Indian captains in different formats. Hardik Pandya was made the captain of such a team and suddenly the crowd went against him. This season will be different because everyone has accepted it,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
