Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg feels Suryakumar Yadav should be Mumbai Indians’ first-choice retention ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction ahead of the likes of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and skipper Hardik Pandya.

SKY is one of the best batters in the T20I format and has played a key role in MI’s success over the years. Yadav has scored 3594 runs in 150 IPL matches at an average of 32.09 and a strike rate of 145.33.

India’s T20I captain also scored a blistering knock of 75 runs off just 35 balls in the third T20I against Bangladesh at Hyderabad.

Brad Hogg said on his YouTube Channel, “He’s able to hit sixes in all parts of the ground and he just sets himself up so beautifully. That’s why I think Mumbai Indians will have to look at keeping him as their number one player rather than Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya because he just blows opposition teams away.”

According to new IPL rules, the first-choice retention player will be retained for INR 18 crores.

Meanwhile, since SKY has taken over the T20I captaincy baton from Rohit Sharma, India has won all of their six matches (three each against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh). Hogg said the Mumbai batter has shown he is a true leader.

“He has really shown that he is a true leader. When I played with him at Kolkata Knight Riders, I just thought he was more of a follower there. I didn’t see the leadership side of it there, but when I went and did a bit of coaching at Mumbai Indians, there was a slight change. You could see that he felt part of the team and he was starting to think he was a leader. He was one of the experienced players in the team, he was taking youngsters under the wing.”

Yadav will be next seen in action in the four-match T20I series against South Africa.