Did Rajasthan Royals pay the price for a faulty retention and auction strategy?

Rajasthan Royals (RR) became the second side to be eliminated from the IPL 2025 playoffs race after they lost to Mumbai Indians (MI) by 100 runs in Jaipur on Thursday. Of the 11 matches they have played so far, they have won only three, and Aakash Chopra and Abhinav Mukund felt their problems started with their retention and auction strategy.

RR retained Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer and Sandeep Sharma for a combined 79 crore out of a total purse of 120 crore. Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal and Avesh Khan were some of the big names they let go of and didn't buy back at the auction.

"I am thinking that once they decided to go with an all-Indian batting line-up," Chopra said on ESPNcricinfo Time Out, "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?

"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 felt RR spent too much to retain Jurel (14 crore) and Hetmyer (11 crore), which handcuffed them when it came to assembling a good bowling attack. They did buy Jofra Archer, Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana but all three have had a below-average season.

"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."

Abhinav agreed with Chopra. "Their one good bowler and the one whom they spent the most money on is Archer," he said. "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."

Another hole that RR failed to plug at the auction table was that of an allrounder. That meant, despite the Impact Player rule, they often lacked depth in both batting and bowling.

"The only team that was not having a sixth bowling option despite Impact Player was Rajasthan Royals," Chopra said. "Now Riyan Parag is giving you a couple of overs but is he your best sixth bowling option? No, he is not.

"I thought they would fix that problem, that, okay, we need a bridge, somebody who can bat and bowl, we will get an allrounder in the auction. Again, they didn't go in that direction either. So, what they didn't have, they didn't try to acquire. What they did have, they thought they would get it in the auction, but they didn't, which is their bowling department."