Follow UsRajasthan Royals (RR) became the second team to get knocked out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, and former India cricketer Aakash Chopra believes it’s largely because of the mistakes they made with their retentions and at the auction table.
RR didn’t retain the likes of Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal and Avesh Khan and instead went for young players like Dhruv Jurel (INR 14 crore), Riyan Parag (INR 14 crore) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (INR 18 crore). They also retained Shimron Hetmyer for INR 11 crore.
"I am thinking that once they decided to go with an all-Indian batting line-up, in which Samson was the most experienced and the oldest, with Shimron Hetmyer lower down the order - the only overseas batting option - is that even a viable option?” Chopra said on ESPNcricinfo Time Out.
"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."
Rajasthan have lost eight of their 11 games in the IPL 2025, and Chopra thinks they shouldn’t have given INR 25 crore for Jurel and Hetmyer. "I don't think Dhruv Jurel would have fetched 14 at the auction. 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."
Adding to Chopra’s points, another former India opener, Abhinav Mukund, said: "Their one good bowler and the one whom they spent the most money on is Archer. Unfortunately, their Indian picks didn't go right. Tushar Deshpande was benched for this particular game; he was bought for a lot of money, 6.5 crore.
"But then again, you invested in two more batters: Nitish Rana (4.2 crore) and Vaibhav Suryavanshi (1.1 crore). How much ever I think, I would not have bought them for that money. I would have invested that money in a couple of good bowlers.
"The last time they had Avesh Khan, Chahal, Ashwin, Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma. These are five proper, bankable bowlers. That's a well-rounded bowling line-up. You should eventually get at least two or three. But you decided not to retain any bowler (barring Sandeep) and now they are facing the wrath of it."