Royals feel the sting of a poor auction strategy along with the choices of the players they ended up retaining.
Royals feel the pinch as they pay the price for a faulty retention and auction strategy.
The Rajasthan Royals (RR) lost to the Mumbai Indians (MI) by 100 runs in Jaipur on Thursday, making them the second team to be eliminated from the IPL 2025 playoffs. They have only won three of their 11 games thus far, and Aakash Chopra and Abhinav Mukund believed that their retention and auction tactics were the root of their issues.
Out of a 120 crore purse, RR kept Sandeep Sharma, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Sanju Samson, and Yashasvi Jaiswal for a total of 79 crore. Among the well-known players they let go and didn’t repurchase at the auction were Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Avesh Khan.
“We say it’s a young man’s game, fine but if you put all of them together – they’re all talented, they’re all skilful – but there’s not a senior stateman in the side, something that Jos Buttler used to do till last year, is that even a viable option? Even in the Indian T20 team, you still need a Suryakumar Yadav to handle whoever else is around him, before and after him. Hardik Pandya comes in and gives you some amount of stability.
“This kind of performance almost represents what the youth can give you on a day when everything goes wrong. Of course, what Vaibhav Suryavanshi will give you is also what youth can give you one day, but there are two very drastically opposite ends of performances that can happen with this team and you do not really have a senior guy to hold it together.”
Chopra believed that by spending too much to keep Hetmyer (11 crore) and Jurel (14 crore), RR was unable to put together a strong bowling attack. Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, and Jofra Archer were all acquired, but their seasons have been below average.
“I don’t think Dhruv Jurel would have fetched 14 at the auction,” he said. “I don’t think Shimron Hetmyer would have got 11. So that’s 25 crore, and if you think those two are worth 15, 16, or 17 in the auction put together, you still free up 8 crore. In fact, I would also invest in the two Indian spinners. Your spinners have to be Indians most of the time, unless there is Rashid [Khan]. Most [Indian] spinners are generally very expensive. If you’re looking at Chahal, you can’t get him again. He went for 18 crore. Noor Ahmad was one guy they should have, could have gone for. They didn’t really target him. They went for Wanindu. See, Wanindu has been a phenomenal bowler for Sri Lanka but his returns in the IPL are very middling.”