The regulations of player retention prior to the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) major auction in 2025 have already been released by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). As the clubs’ retention deadline is October 31, there is already a lot of conjecture around the possible departure of former India T20 captain Rohit Sharma from the Mumbai Indians.

Prior to IPL 2024, a season in which the six-time IPL winners ended in 10th position, Hardik Pandya had already taken Rohit’s place as MI captain. Mohammed Kaif, a former cricketer for India, is pushing Rohit to quit MI and join a club where he can manage the squad for the remainder of his IPL career, ahead of the big auctions.

Virat Kohli, the former captain of India, plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), one of the teams. RCB, who qualified for the IPL 2024 playoffs, may be searching for a new captain since they are unlikely to keep their present captain, South Africa’s Faf du Plessis.

“Rohit Sharma ought to be limited to captaincy.” He just guided India to victory in the T20 World Cup and is such a huge player. Offers will undoubtedly come his way. I am aware of this, as he must have had calls with offers. However, I believe that he should only assume the skipper position in whichever team he joins. And Rohit Sharma has to go. Because of his skill on the field—very few people possess it—he only has two to three years remaining in his IPL career, and those years should be spent as a captain, Kaif was cited by the Star Sports network.

Rohit Sharma has amassed 6,628 runs in 257 games throughout his IPL career, including two hundreds and forty-three fifties. In 14 matches during the 2024 IPL, Rohit scored 417 runs with one hundred and fifty.

After guiding India to the T20 World Cup 2024 championship earlier this year, the captain of Team India for Test and ODI cricket announced a retirement from T20 international cricket. In addition to the RCB, Rohit’s probable destinations are the Punjab Kings and the Lucknow Super Giants. Sunrisers Hyderabad may also be in the market for a new captain.

But in order to make it a dream comeback for Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Kaif pleaded with RCB to persuade Sharma to join them for the 2025 IPL season. “RCB needs to persuade him to assume the leadership, and they should take that opportunity 100% of the time. Kaif said that because Rohit is an expert at assembling a lineup, RCB will have the upper hand if he is selected and that their trophy drought may also come to an end.

There’s also talk that if RCB can’t identify a worthy successor to captain Du Plessis, they would attempt to persuade Kohli to take charge of the team once again.