"That would be quite a story....": De Villiers on Rohit's potential move to RCB during IPL 2025 auction

Legendary South African batter AB de Villiers said that if Mumbai Indians (MI) star and Indian skipper Rohit Sharma moves to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), it would be a massive headline-making move, however, it is highly unlikely to happen.

The legend's statement comes as IPL announced the rules and regulations related to retentions and auction format ahead of the next season in 2025. Also, rumours in the media are swirling around Rohit's future with MI, with whom he won five IPL titles as a captain.

Last year, the five-time champions brought back all-rounder Hardik Pandya to the franchise as a captain following his two-year-stint with Gujarat Titans (GT), which proved to be a controversial decision. The decision did not meet the approval of the majority of the franchise's fans, who booed Hardik out of the stadium across India throughout the 2024 season, accusing him of betraying Rohit, who won so many titles for MI and made Hardik a star.

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. On the other side, Rohit scored 417 runs in 14 matches, with a century and fifty each. Speaking on his Youtube channel, De Villiers said on this week's latest episode of the '360 Show'.

"That will be quite a story if Rohit moves from Mumbai Indians to RCB. Wow! Imagine the headlines. It will be bigger than Hardik Pandya's move. He moved from Gujarat Titans back to Mumbai, which although wasn't big a surprise. But if Rohit moves from Mumbai to join his rivals in RCB...oh my god! I don't think there is an option there. I do not see a possibility of MI leaving Rohit. I will give that zero or 0.1 per cent chance," he said.

Rohit is the third-highest run-getter in the tournament history, with 6,628 runs at an average of 29.72, with a strike rate of 131.14. He has scored two centuries and 43 fifties, with the best score of 109*. Following 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 2025-2027. The following decisions were taken in the IPL Governing Council meeting:

The 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) option.

It is at the discretion of the IPL franchise to choose their combination for Retentions and RTMs. The 6 retentions / RTM's can have a maximum of 5 capped players (Indian & Overseas) and a maximum of 2 uncapped players.

The 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 (2027).

A 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 7.5 Lakhs per match. This will be in addition to his contracted amount.

Any Overseas Player will have to register for the Big Auction. In case the overseas player doesn't register, then he will be ineligible to register in the following year's player auction.

Any 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 Seasons.

A 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 only.

The Impact Player Regulation will continue for the 2025 to 2027 cycle. (ANI)