IPL 2022 | Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul might join up together in IPL 2022, predicts Daniel Vettori

Mumbai Indians announced their IPL retention list on Tuesday, and the franchise retained Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Kieron Pollard ahead of the mega auction. Rohit, who led the Mumbai-based franchise to five IPL titles was retained for a whopping 16 crores. Whereas, the spearhead of the team, Bumrah was paid INR 12 crores. The five-time IPL champions retained Suryakumar for INR 8 crores, and Pollard will draw a salary of INR 6 crores.

"He probably feels like he has developed himself and there maybe alliances forming. That may be a factor as well. KL and Hardik are extremely close so there may be an opportunity for them to all join up with luck now. All these things in the background may be happening at the moment and we will only find out in the coming days and weeks if it comes to fruition. I think there are a lot of players trying to play together," Vettori said on ESPNCricinfo.

"It's simply about money, it has to be. There's no way that Mumbai didn't want Hardik Pandya, every franchise wants him. But they would have only been able to offer him that third spot because and Bumrah and Rohit rightly take up those two slots," added the former New Zealand spinner.

"So unfortunately for Mumbai, they are the product of their own success. And this was Venky's point when we were discussing with him that you develop players and you get them to a point where they are critical to a franchise but then it's incredibly difficult to hold onto them. I am sure that Hardik Pandya would have been a top priority but they just couldn't fit him in," said Vettori.