"They might retain 5+1 and reach the auction after spending 79 crores" - Aakash Chopra on Mahela Jayawardene's return as Mumbai Indians head coach

Aakash Chopra reckons the Mumbai Indians' (MI) reappointment of Mahela Jayawardene as their head coach implies that they might be looking to retain the maximum allowed six players ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. He added that the franchise will not be at a disadvantage even if they spend ₹79 crore before the auction to keep their best players.

MI finished with the wooden spoon in IPL 2024 under Hardik Pandya and Mark Boucher as captain and head coach, respectively. Hardik's appointment as captain before the 2024 season seemed to cause disgruntlement within the setup. It remains to be seen whether Rohit Sharma and other senior players would want to stay with the franchise.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener opined that Jayawardene's reinstatement implies that the Mumbai Indians might be looking to retain their five most accomplished capped players along with Nehal Wadhera as the uncapped player.

"Mahela Jayawardene is back. So some changes have started happening. The Mumbai Indians are trying to retain their core as well, considering the form Hardik Pandya is in, and they have Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma/Ishan Kishan," he said (5:10).

"After that, they have Nehal Wadhera. I mean they have plenty. So they might retain 5+1 and reach the auction after spending 79 crores. They are the ones who are able to manage because the six players they will retain are going to be part of the XI, and all will be Indians. So they can still pull it off," Chopra added.

MI retained Rohit, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Kieron Pollard ahead of the last mega auction. They released Hardik, who was picked as skipper by the Gujarat Titans in the draft, but the five-time champions traded him in before the IPL 2024 auction and made him their skipper.

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"Bowling was the weaker link last year" - Aakash Chopra on Paras Mhambrey's appointment as Mumbai Indians bowling coach

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that the Mumbai Indians' bowling issues in IPL 2024 might have forced them to acquire Paras Mhambrey, India's 2024 T20 World Cup-winning bowling coach.

"Mahela Jayawardene is a master tactician. He was a good player and an excellent captain. He also had a good relationship with Mumbai. So Mahela is back and so is Paras Mhambrey. They needed a bowling coach because bowling was the weaker link last year," he said (5:50).

The reputed commentator pointed out that MI leaked a lot of runs in IPL 2024 despite Jasprit Bumrah's presence in their attack.

"They were conceding a lot of runs. If they were making 200-225, they used to concede that as well despite Bumrah being there. If you were conceding 200 runs in 16 overs, you need a lot of help in bowling. So Paras Mhambrey has come there," Chopra observed.

With 20 wickets at an economy rate of 6.48 in 13 innings, Bumrah was MI's highest wicket-taker in IPL 2024. While leg-spinner Piyush Chawla picked up 13 wickets at an economy rate of 8.91 in 11 innings, Gerald Coetzee (13) and Hardik Pandya (11) were their other successful seamers. However, both conceded more than 10 runs per over.