Suresh Raina advises Mumbai Indians to 'hold' on to Rohit Sharma, release this all-rounder ahead of IPL auction

Former India cricketer Suresh Raina has advised Mumbai Indians to release English all-rounder Will Jacks ahead of the retention deadline later this week. The former Chennai Super Kings batter also urged the five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions to retain veteran star Rohit Sharma, in addition to other key players such as New Zealand left-arm quick Trent Boult, and to take a call on Indian pacer Deepak Chahar with regards to the upcoming mini-auction, which is likely to take place next month.

“They should hold him (Rohit Sharma), he has won a lot of trophies for them. Deepak Chahar is just in, it depends on what options they have, so they can either release him or retain him, but they might not get players at the auction, so I think they should retain him. They should retain him (Trent Boult), he is a gun player, the advantage that he has as a left-arm bowler, they should retain him,” Raina said on Star Sports.

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Will Jacks be retained by MI after a dip in his strike rate

English batting all-rounder Jacks, who is also handy with his off-spin, had been bought by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in December 2023 for Rs 3.2 crore, and scored 230 runs in eight appearances at a strike rate of 175.57 in his maiden season last year.

He would then join MI for Rs 5.25 crore in last year's mega auction in Jeddah. And while Jacks had more appearances for MI this season than with RCB last year, there wasn’t much of a change in his run tally, with the Englishman collecting 233 runs in 13 appearances. What’s more, there was a noticeable dip in his strike rate, which stood at 135.47 in the 18th IPL season.

Rohit, who is in the twilight of his career and has already retired from Twenty20 Internationals and Tests, has gone past the 400-run mark in each of the last two seasons at a strike rate hovering around 150. And while he is expected to remain an integral members of the batting lineup in the coming season as well, it remains to be seen if he continues to play as an 'Impact Player' more often than not, which was the case earlier this year.

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There were rumours of Rohit joining three-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders after their appointment of former assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, and individual the ‘Hitman’ reportedly shares close relations with, as their head coach. MI, however, shot down those rumours with a witty social media post recently, indicating that he remains a key part of their squad for now even if there’s a giant question mark over his future in the world’s biggest T20 league.