Mumbai Indians Poised for Comeback After Playoff Heartbreak

As of November 11th, 2025, the former Chennai Super Kings player Subramaniam Badrinath believes that five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have little to change in their squad for the upcoming 2026 season. Despite a rough start to their 2025 campaign, MI bounced back and qualified for the playoffs, only to be knocked out by a brilliant batting display from Sheyas Iyer in the second qualifier.

Badrinath suggests that MI may consider releasing veteran pacer Deepak Chahar, who had an inconsistent 2025 season, finishing with 11 wickets in 14 matches at an average of over 34 and an economy of 9.17. However, the core of the MI team, including Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, and Trent Boult, remains intact and capable of defeating any international T20 team, according to Badrinath.

The Mumbai-based franchise, which has won five IPL titles from 2013 to 2020, including back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020, will submit their final list of released and retained players ahead of the 2026 auction on November 15th. The auction is expected to take place in the third week of December.