Image: The ups and downs of players at the IPL 2025 / © ESPNcricinfo
Before the IPL 2025 season, every team went on for the Mega Auction, with 120 crore INR, to build their best squad for the season. Various teams decided to spend big on the players who were highly in demand, while a few of them also made some good decisions with the uncapped or underrated players. These decisions eventually paid off, as the underrated picks gave better form this time as compared to the top buys.
Most of the players on whom the IPL teams had spent big failed to deliver, but the momentum of the team was left undisturbed with the form of underrated picks. They showed that regardless of the price, they have the hidden match-winning talent in them, for which the teams paid hefty amounts to the big stars of the game. Let’s take a look at the underrated picks and costly flops for each team in IPL 2025.
Chennai Super Kings had one of the best auctions and also the worst performance in the IPL 2025 season. The team bagged on several top players such as Ravichandran Ashwin, Rachin Ravindra, Noor Ahmad, and many more, but most of them failed to help the team in the initial phases. As a result, Chennai ended the campaign at the last spot for the first time in its IPL history.
Ravichandran Ashwin was bought by the team for a whopping price of 9.75 crore INR, and what was thought to be a legendary spinner became a costly flop for them. In the IPL 2025 season, Ashwin took 7 wickets in 9 matches at an average of 40.42 and an economy of 9.12, and scored 33 runs in 4 innings at an average of 8.25.
Ayush Mhatre, on the other hand, was bought by CSK as a replacement for their injured captain Ruturaj Gaikwad for 30 lakh INR. Even after entering the season in the middle and making his T20 debut, Mhatre came out as an underrated gem, scoring 240 runs in 7 matches at an average of 34.28 and a strike rate of 188.97. His best innings came against RCB, where he scored 94, but it went in vain as CSK lost the match.
The team, which was said to have played wisely in the IPL 2025, the Delhi Capitals, might not have played much wisely in getting the big stars. After the auction, their team looked strong and aggressive, but the aftermath was not expected. They ended the current IPL season in the 5th spot, just missing out on the playoffs with just one point.
Jake Fraser-McGurk, the player who even smashed Jasprit Bumrah in his first IPL season, was bought back by the team using the RTM card for 9.00 crore INR. But he became their costliest flop, scoring just 55 runs in 6 matches at an average of 9.16, and a strike rate of 105.76. After looking at his performances, he withdrew himself from the midseason, putting up more challenges to the team.
On the other hand, the team also bought the forgotten star of the Indian team, Karun Nair, for 50 lakh INR. He came out to be the hidden gem or an underrated pick, as he ended up scoring 198 runs in 8 matches at an average of 24.75, and a strike rate of 172.17. In the match against Mumbai Indians, he smashed 89 runs, dominating over bowlers like Bumrah, Boult, and more.
Gujarat Titans is among the few teams who had spent their money on the best players in both the auction and retention, and they even delivered when the team needed it the most. Their squad was completely balanced even after the Mega Auction, which allowed them to reach the Eliminator stage of the current season.
Rashid Khan, the Afghan all-rounder, was retained by the team for the highest price of 18 crore INR, later also being announced as its vice-captain. But the spinner failed to deliver for his team, taking 9 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 57.11 and an economy of 9.34, and with the bat he scored 40 runs at an average of 8.
On his behalf, Sai Kishore came out as the hidden gem, who was bought by the team for just 2 crore INR, with the help of their RTM card. He surely was the best spinner for the Gujarat Titans this season, taking 19 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 20.68, and an economy of 9.24 runs per over. Kishore was able to pick up the important scalps for Gujarat Titans when the team was in need to break the partnerships.
The defending champions of the IPL 2025 season, Kolkata Knight Riders, had spent big bucks in the Mega Auction, making their team look even stronger for the next edition. But their performances didn’t go as expected, with the team finishing in 8th spot with just 5 wins in 14 matches.
Their top buy was Venkatesh Iyer, who was bought by the team for a whopping total of 23.75 crore INR. But after the season ended, fans and analysts say that KKR had bid on the wrong Iyer. Venkatesh Iyer had a poor campaign this time, as he scored just 142 runs in 11 matches at an average of 20.28 and a strike rate of just 139.21, including a half-century.
For their underrated picks, Ajinkya Rahane came out as the best choice, with KKR picking him at the price of 1.50 crore. Later, the team also announced him as the new captain, as Rahane finished as the top performer of the team in the season, with 390 runs in 13 matches at an average of 35.45, and a strike rate of 147.72, with 3 half-centuries.
Owned by Sanjiv Goenka, Lucknow SuperGiants had also spent big bucks on several players, which also increased the hopes of fans for the IPL season. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned for the team, as they finished in 7th spot in the standings with 6 wins in 14 matches, missing out on the playoffs.
LSG had their top buy in the form of Rishabh Pant, for a total of 27 crore INR, making him the costliest player in IPL history. Sanjiv Goenka also went down to announce him as the captain of their line-up, but Pant didn’t deliver according to the money. He scored 269 runs in 14 matches at an average of 24.45, including a century against RCB and a half-century against CSK.
On the other hand, Digvesh Rathi, who was bought for just 30 lakh INR by the team, came in as the underrated pick. Despite giving a part of his money in the form of fines, Rathi was dominant with his spin deliveries, taking 14 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 30.64 and an economy of just 8.25 runs per over.
That’s all for part 1 of the IPL 2025 teams having underrated picks and costly flops. Stay tuned for the second part of this series.