The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise starts preparations for auctions months before it happens. But they always get it right. Before the IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah, teams had to also choose who to retain as well. When it was all done, players like Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer hit the jackpot. There were some unlucky ones as well, who either didn’t get picked or weren’t paid enough.
Most expensive failures of IPL 2025
We are 13 matches into the IPL 2025 season, and some of these buys and retentions have come to bite them. The biggest failures are Pant for Lucknow Super Giants, Rohit Sharma for Mumbai Indians, Venkatesh for Kolkata Knight Riders and Yashasvi Jaiswal for Rajasthan Royals.
It isn’t just that these players have failed. Pant and Venkatesh seem to be feeling the price tag pressure. Rohit of late has been running hot and cold. On his days, he’s very good. But those days aren’t frequent. As for Jaiswal, he just seems to be out of touch.
| Batter | Price (Rs) | Innings | Runs | Average | Strike Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rishabh Pant | 27 crore | 3 | 17 | 5.66 | 65.38 |
| Venkatesh Iyer | 23.75 crore | 2 | 9 | 4.50 | 56.25 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 18 crore | 3 | 34 | 11.33 | 106.25 |
| Rohit Sharma | 16.35 crore | 3 | 21 | 7 | 105 |
Cheapest star performers of IPL 2025
Shardul Thakur has been one of the best performers in the IPL 2025 so far. The all-rounder had gone unsold at the mega auction, but Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) bagged him for Rs 2 crore as Mohsin Khan’s replacement and has performed extraordinarily for them. Aniket Verma impressed the Sunrisers Hyderabad scouts in the Madhya Pradesh T20 league and so far might be their best batter.
20-year-old Vipraj Nigam has shown promise with both bat and ball. He bowls leg spin and can be a destructive hitter down the order. He’s already contributed to the Delhi Capitals’ victory over LSG. Sai Kishore might be the best spinner alongside Kuldeep Yadav. The big difference is that the left-arm wrist spinners get paid almost 7 times more than Kishore.
| Batter | Price (Rs) | Innings | Batting | Bowling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shardul Thakur | 2 crore | 3 | – | 6 wickets, average 8.83, economy 8.83, strike rate 6 |
| Aniket Verma | 30 lakh | 3 | 117 runs, 39 average & 205.26 strike rate | – |
| Vijraj Nigam | 50 lakh | 3 | 39 runs, 39 average, 260 strike rate | 1 wickets, average 56, economy 14, strike rate 24 |
| Sai Kishore | 2 crore | 3 | 1 runs, 1 average, 100 strike rate | 4 wickets, average 16.75, economy 8.37, strike rate 12 |
