IPL 2025: Gujarat Titans coach Ashish Nehra explains Mohammed Shami's exit, says 'he was part of...'

Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra opened up on Mohammed Shami’s exit from the side as they were unable to recapture the star pacer in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) mega auction on Sunday (Nov 24). According to Nehra, the side had plans to retain Shami but were eventually out of the race due to high bids logged during the mega auction in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah. The 34-year-old was eventually sold to SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) for INR 100mn ($1.28mn).

Nehra opens up on Shami’s exit

"Whatever he has done for GT and India, I mean he was part of our retention (plans) also. But again, you see retention is that kind of a thing," Nehra told Jio Cinema. "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).”

It has been over a year since Shami was last in action, having last played in the ODI World Cup final against Australia on 19 Nov 2023. He has since been out due to injury, missing the IPL 2024 and T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. He was recently named in West Bengal’s Ranji Trophy squad, having scalped four wickets on return and is also in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy squad.

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On the other hand, GT replaced Shami with another Indian star Mohammed Siraj who will spearhead the bowling attack. The 2022 IPL winners paid INR 125mn ($1.48mn) for Siraj who was not retained by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). GT also got the services of Jos Buttler, who was the most expensive player for the franchise with a valuation of INR 157.5 ($1.86mn).

GT IPL 2025 Squad:

Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Kagiso Rabada (Rs. 10.75 crore), Jos Buttler (Rs. 15.75 crore). Mohammed Siraj (Rs. 12.25 crore), Prasidh Krishna (Rs. 9.50 crore), Nishant Sindhu (Rs. 30 lakh), Mahipal Lomror (Rs. 1.70 crore), Kumar Kushagra (Rs. 65 lakh), Anuj Rawat (Rs. 30 lakh), Manav Suthar (Rs. 30 lakh), Washington Sundar (Rs. 3.20 crore), Gerald Coetzee (Rs. 2.40 crore), Arshad Khan (Rs. 1.30 crore), Gurnoor Brar (Rs. 1.30 crore), Sherfane Rutherford (Rs. 2.60 crore), Sai Kishore (Rs. 2 crore), Ishant Sharma (Rs. 75 lakh), Jayant Yadav (Rs. 75 lakh), Glenn Phillips (Rs. 2 crore), Karim Janat (Rs. 75 lakh), Kulwant Khejroliya (Rs. 30 lakh).