India's lethal pacer Mohammed Shami who missed almost a year action due to injury was roped in for Rs 10 crore by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction, Shami had as many as four franchises interested in him. When SRH entered the bidding war late, auctioneer Mallika Sagar asked Gujarat Titans (GT) if they would like to use their Right to Match (RTM) card and head coach Ashish Nehra shook his head. While there were speculations that GT have moved on from Shami, Nehra clarified that he was part of the retention but he went for a higher price than they expected.
"Whatever he has done for GT and for India, I mean he was part of our retention (plans) also. But again, you see retention is that kind of a thing," said Nehra, a former India pacer. "Mohammed Shami, Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, Sai Sudharsan -- every team has so many options. Then we had RTM also, that maybe we can use RTM (at the auction) and take him; but the kind of price he went (for)..."
The new RTM rule would have played a role in ruining GT's plan of retaining Shami as well. If GT opted to retain him, SRH would have raised the bid considerably.
Nehra pointed out that auction strategy does not always work. He lauded Shami's contribution to GT in last three seasons.
"It doesn't matter whatever strategy you have, when it comes to open auction, your strategy is not going to be successful all the time," said the former India left-arm pacer.
"Definitely, whatever Mohammed Shami has done for GT and those three years will always be memorable."
ALSO READ: Shubman Gill ruled out of pink-ball game, final call for Adelaide Test yet to be taken
Shami's run in GT
In IPL 2022, they won the title in their maiden season Shami took 20 wickets in that season. He followed it up with 28 wickets in IPL 2023 when GT reached the final. In the previous edition, he did not play due to ankle injury sustained during ODI World Cup 2023.
Shami's price tag in auctions over the years
This is the highest payday for Shami in IPL auctions. In the last mega auction, he was picked by GT for Rs 6.25 crore. Before that, he was with Punjab Kings (PBKS) for Rs 4.80 crore. For Delhi Capitals (DC), he has played for RS 4.25 crore in three seasons followed by Rs 3 crore in 2018.
