Mumbai Indians have retained five players for the Indian Premier League 2025. The franchise will move ahead with captain Hardik Pandya despite the franchise’s last-place finish in the 17th season. He has been confirmed as their skipper ahead of the mega auction.

Mumbai’s move ended speculations about his future with the team. Hardik thanked the decision-makers for believing in him and promised a better performance from the players in the 18th season.

“It feels great to get another chance to play for Mumbai.

I started my career over here, and this team is the reason I have achieved so much. The upcoming season is going to be special, like the ones we had in 2013, 2015, 2017, ’19, and ’20. We are going to make a strong comeback in IPL 2025. You win and lose on the field,” Hardik was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

He also spoke about the unity among the MI players. Apart from Pandya, MI have retained Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah and Tilak Varma.

“We are like five fingers but one fist. We will return with a bang. We are going to back each other irrespective of the results.”