IPL 2025 Mega Auction: Rohit Sharma Pursued By THIS Top Franchise, Could Be Made New Captain
It is no secret that India’s ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma maybe on his way out of Mumbai Indians (MI) ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 Mega Auction. Rohit, who retired from T20I cricket after winning the T20 World Cup 2024 title, was replaced as MI captain by all-rounder Hardik Pandya ahead of the IPL 2024 season.
IPL 2024 was a disastrous season for the five-time champions, who finished dead-last in 10th position with just 4 wins in 14 matches. Rohit is the most successful MI captain leading them to unprecedented 5 IPL titles in his career with the Mukesh Ambani-owned franchise.
Rohit is also reportedly the highest paid cricketer in MI team with yearly salary of around Rs 16 crore, which is more than skipper Pandya’s Rs 15 crore salary in IPL 2024. However, if Rohit does decide to move on from MI, one of the teams in search of a new skipper is Bollywood star Preity Zinta co-owned Punjab Kings (PBKS).
A top PBKS official didn’t hide the fact that Rohit Sharma could be the franchise’s top targets in the IPL 2025 mega auction if the Indian skipper is up for grabs. PBKS Director of Cricket Operations, Sanjay Bangar, expressed his interest in Rohit and also admitted that a move for the opening batter would depend upon money left in the purse.
“It all depends on whether we have the money in our pockets. If Rohit comes in the auction, I certainly believe, he is going to go for a high price,” said Bangar in a chat on the RAO Podcast YouTube channel.
Podcaster: “If Rohit Sharma enters the auction, will PBKS target him?”
Sanjay Bangar: “Well, if Rohit Sharma enters the auction, he will surely command a very high price, and the PBKS management isn’t certain they can get him.” (Both laugh) pic.twitter.com/72BbTG1RFs
— Jod Insane (@jod_insane) August 24, 2024
Former India batter and Rohit’s long-time opening partner Shikhar Dhawan was the designated captain of the Punjab Kings till the IPL 2024 but he has now announced his retirement from all formats of the game. PBKS would be keen to sign a new captain in the IPL 2025 mega auction, and there aren’t many better options than Rohit for the role. England all-rounder Sam Curran led PBKS for most of the IPL 2024, in which they finished in 9th place just above MI.
In the IPL, Rohit Sharma has amassed 6,628 runs from 257 matches till date at an average of 29.72 with 2 hundreds and 43 fifties to his name. Rohit also has a strike-rate of 131.14 in IPL.