New Delhi: With the franchises getting ready to finalise the retention list of players for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, former India pacer Irfan Pathan feels that Mumbai Indians must retain captain Rohit Sharma, West Indies batsman Kieron Pollard, India Pacer Jasprit Bumrah and Ishan Kishan.
Ahead of the mega auction of players for IPL, Irfan Pathan revealed his choices that could make it on Mumbai Indians’ retention list.
“Rohit Sharma number 1, Jasprith Bumrah number 2, number 3 Kieron Pollard and number 4, I’m very clear on that, Ishan Kishan. He’s 23-years-old and has shown glimpses of what he can do and achieve. He’s a solid hitter when it comes to having a left-hand batsman at the top of the order and you can definitely invest in him because he will have at least 10 years of a good level of cricket, so Ishan Kishan,” Irfan said on the Star Sports show ‘Game Plan – IPL Retention Special’.
Irfan said that RCB certainly will retain Virat Kohli and Australia’s destructive batsman Glen Maxwell. However, he said that the RCB management will have a problem with the other two players on the retention list.
“Obviously, when it comes to the auction, they’ll be looking for a leader, that’s one thing for sure. The guys who I think they will look for retention, Virat Kohli number 1 for sure, Maxwell number 2. I think the two other guys who I would like to see get retained, because it’s slightly tricky, one because you have guys like Devdutt Paddikal, Chahal, Mohammed Siraj as well as Harshal Patel, who’s been a Purple Patel for them, so he’s been a consistent performer. So, out of those four, I would go for Chahal as well as Siraj because they offer different bowling skills. He can give you the new ball and he can give you those yorkers as well at the same time. Yes, Harshal Patel will be a big talking point as well, but if RCB thinks he’s got the skill to do really well at the Chinnaswamy Stadium regularly, then in place of Siraj, they might go for Harshal Patel,” he said.
Irfan predicted that Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler must be on the Rajasthan Royals’ retention list.
“Sanju Samson for sure, the second number will be Jos Buttler because he’s been in fantastic form, one of the best hitters going around especially if you are talking about white-ball cricket, so you don’t want to miss out on that wicket-keeper batsman, who can bat up the order and down the order as well,” said Irfan.
“The other guy, people might be tempted for Ben Stokes because he’s a wonderful all-rounder, but I think I would put Jofra Archer in the same category as Jasprith Bumrah because you don’t find many bowlers like that. So, I definitely would like Rajasthan Royals to retain Jofra Archer, and the fourth one, I am very tempted for Yashasvi Jaiswal because he’s a ‘oung guy, who’s shown a lot of potentials and he could be the guy you could invest in,” he added.