Fast Indian bowler Mohammed Shami who missed nearly a year of cricket due to injury was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for Rs 10 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Four teams showed interest in Shami during the auction. When SRH made a late bid, the auctioneer, Mallika Sagar, asked Gujarat Titans (GT) if they wanted to use their Right to Match (RTM) card. GT’s coach, Ashish Nehra clearly said NO. Some thought GT didn’t want Shami anymore, but Nehra explained they had planned to keep him but couldn’t match the high price of the star bowler.
Ashish Nehra Comment On Mohammed Shami
“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 probably disrupted GT’s plan to retain Shami, as using the RTM card would have led SRH to push the bid higher.
Nehra acknowledged that auction strategies don’t always go as planned and praised Shami for his valuable contributions to GT over the past 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.
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“Definitely, whatever Mohammed Shami has done for GT and those three years will always be memorable.”
