IPL 2025: Gujarat Titans Head Coach Ashish Nehra Explains Mohammed Shami’s Release

The Gujarat Titans’ decision to release Mohammed Shami ahead of IPL 2025 surprised many, given the pacer’s consistent performances and contributions to their title-winning campaign in 2022. Head coach Ashish Nehra opened up about the rationale, explaining that while Shami was initially part of their retention plans, financial constraints and the need to balance their squad forced a tough decision. He said:

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 thing. Mohammed Shami, Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, and 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)…

Watch the video here:

"Shami's contribution to #GT over the past 3 years has been truly remarkable," says Nehra 🗣️#JioCinemaSports #IPLAuctiononJioStar #TATAIPL #MohammedShami pic.twitter.com/mODTYJq3gp

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) November 26, 2024

During the IPL 2025 auction, Sunrisers Hyderabad secured Shami for INR 10 crore. Gujarat Titans had the option to use the Right to Match (RTM) card but chose not to.

Explaining the strategy of not using RTM cards and emphasizing the high regard the franchise holds for Shami, Nehra further added:

It doesn’t matter whatever strategy you have; when it comes to open auctions, your strategy is not going to be successful all the time. Definitely, whatever Mohammed Shami has done for GT and those three years will always be memorable.

While Shami moves on to a new chapter with SRH, Nehra affirmed that the Titans will always remember his contributions fondly as part of their historic IPL journey.