'Does he deserve to be an 18 crore?': Tom Moody on Pandya's possible retention

Former Australian cricketer Tom Moody questioned if star Indian allrounder Hardik Pandya is worth being retained for Rs 18 crore by the Mumbai Indians MI for IPL 2025 and also revealed his retention picks for the next season for the fivetime championsLast year the fivetime champions brought back allrounder Hardik Pandya to the franchise as a captain following his twoyearstint with Gujarat Titans GT which proved to be a controversial decisionThe decision did not meet the approval of the majority of the franchises fans who booed Hardik out of the stadium across India throughout the 2024 season MI finished the last season at the bottom of the table with just four wins in 14 games and even Hardik underperformed throughout the tournament scoring just 216 runs in 13 innings at an average of 1800 with not even a single fifty and 11 wicketsSpeaking on ESPNCricinfo Moody said that Rohit would be a little disillusioned with what happened over the last 612 months with the franchise and kept Jasprit Bumrah Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma among his picksThe way that things panned out in the last edition of the IPL he Rohit Sharma would be I think a little bit disillusioned with what happened over the last 612 months I would have Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav at 18 crores and Hardik at 14 Leaving is up to him Hardik or you can put it down to his performance form and fitness And when you dissect all of those areas with Hardik Pandya does he deserve to be an 18 crore player Is he worth it If you have got to be an 18 crore player you have got to be a genuine matchwinner and do it regularly Hardik Pandya through his trials and tribulations over the last edition of the IPL was struggling with both fitness and performance Tilak Varma absolutely said MoodyAlso ReadRohit Sharmarsquos bossball brigade Redefining the game with styleHe also questioned young wicketkeeperbatter Ishan Kishans place in the team saying that though he is terrific and exciting he is also very hot and cold Kishan scored 320 runs in 14 games last season with just two fiftiesI look at Ishan Kishan and I think look hes a terrific player and is exciting But also runs very hot and cold How many matches has he won out of his bat thats a question youve got to ask If you are paying him around 14 crore for retention are you going to get the return from a performance point of view They will have to make some hard decisions Moody saidMoody remarked that MI has had problems at auction table over the years as players like Kishan and Jofra Archer failed to provide the returns in recent seasons with Archer missing out the 2022 season and playing just five matches in the 2023 seasonThey have had a little bit of a problem at the auction table last couple of years They have gotten caught up in a way too loyal in some cases and tried to retain or get players back into their squad which has cost them dearly Classic examples were Ishan Kishan and Jofra Archer both coming at a heavy price Did they get the return Moody concludedFollowing a constructive dialogue with the owners of the 10 franchises in July at the BCCI Headquarters the IPL Governing Council GC met in Bengaluru on September 28 to decide the IPL Player Regulations 20252027The following decisions were taken in the IPL Governing Council meeting ahead of IPL 2025The IPL franchises can retain a total of 6 players from their existing squad This can be either via retention or by using the Right to Match RTM optionIt is at the discretion of the IPL franchise to choose their combination for Retentions and RTMs The 6 retentions RTMs can have a maximum of 5 capped players Indian amp Overseas and a maximum of 2 uncapped playersThe auction purse for the franchises has been set at INR 120 Crore for IPL 2025 The total salary cap will now consist of auction purse incremental performance pay and match fees Previously in 2024 the total salary cap auction purse incremental performance pay was Rs 110 Crs which will now be Rs 146 Crs 2025 Rs 151 Crs 2026 and Rs 157 Crs 2027A match fee has been introduced for the first time in the history of IPL Each Playing member Including the Impact Player will get a match fee of INR 75 Lakhs per match This will be in addition to his contracted amountAny Overseas Player will have to register for the Big Auction In case the overseas player doesnt register then he will be ineligible to register in the following years player auctionAny player who registers in the player auction and after getting picked at the auction makes himself unavailable before the start of the season will get banned from participating in the tournament and player auction for 2 SeasonsA capped Indian player will become uncapped if the player has in the last five calendar years preceding the year in which the relevant Season is held not played in the starting XI in International Cricket Test match ODI Twenty20 International or does not have a Central Contract with BCCI This will be applicable for Indian Players onlyThe Impact Player Regulation will continue for the 2025 to 2027 cycleWith agency inputs