Former India Player Questions Rajasthan Royals Auction Strategy After Their Poor Start in IPL 2025 – CricXtasy

They are placed at the seventh spot after five games.
Former India batter Robin Uthappa criticised Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) player retentions ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction. The franchise released some big names like Jos Buttler, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Yuzvendra Chahal before the mega-auction. He attributed these releases to the current struggles of RR in the tournament.
“I think that’s where RR got it wrong in the in the auctions, didn’t they? I think the fact that they let the likes of Jos Buttler go, Ashwin go, Yuzi Chahal go, they just left too many holes,” he opined.
He also questioned their picks during the two-day auction, which doesn’t reflect proper replacement plans for a player.
“If Shimron Hetmyer gets injured, they don’t have a replacement for him, which makes us ask that question that how does that actually work for them,” added Uthappa.
Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, and Sandeep Sharma were the six players retained by the franchise. RR released England’s wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler after a seven-year stint since IPL 2018. Gujarat Titans then acquired Buttler for INR 15.75 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction. He scored 36 runs in 25 balls against his former team last night. Notably, the Titans defeated the Royals by 58 runs.
ALSO READ:
The former RR player also pointed out how the relationship between captain Samson and Buttler used to build a positive environment within the squad. He stated that there are also many more aspects than the on-field performances that push the team to do better. The 39-year-old feels that the omission of the English batter could be one of the main reasons behind the struggle.
“The connection that Sanju has as a leader with Jos Butler really does have a huge influence in and around the group as well. So there are other factors around not just your cricket performance on the field that add so much value, which is why it just continues to blow me away that the Rajasthan Royals didn’t retain him” he said to Star Sports.
Rajasthan Royals have won only two out of their five games so far. They will take on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on April 13.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.

source