Top players who shockingly went unsold at the IPL auction

The IPL 2025 mega auction had the ten franchises dealing with a heavier purse than in previous editions. Ahead of the retentions, the IPL governing council allotted a purse worth ₹120 crore to all the teams, with the option to retain up to six players. Punjab Kings, using just ₹9.5 crore in retentions, entered the mega auction with the heaviest purse at ₹110.5 crore. However, a heavier purse didn’t warrant a lax approach by the teams in the IPL auction this time. In fact, the stakes proved so high that some of the top names of previous seasons in the league did not hear a single bid. While some players didn’t have age on their side, others couldn’t keep up with the raised demands of the IPL.

From Warner to Shaw: Top unsold players in the IPL auction this year

While the IPL, with its T20 format at the forefront, has always promoted aggressive play, the 2024 season took hitting to a whole new level. With teams banking on the impact player rule, batters fired right from the word go and put on a spectacle never seen before in the league. SRH's opening pair of Australian Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma had bowlers sweating hard as they notched over 100 runs in the powerplay alone. Moreover, Travis Head went on to hit the fastest century of the season, reaching his ton off just 37 balls against the RCB bowlers. The contest is levelling up by the day, with performances needed to match the high-paced, blazing brand of play.

Thus, when teams hit the IPL auction table, they had their priorities set straight. Notably, some of the biggest names in the sport, like David Warner, Steve Smith, and Jonny Bairstow, couldn’t make it into the priority lists of teams for the seasons ahead. The IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah staged some major heartbreaks, with the mainstays of previous seasons going unsold.

David Warner

The 38-year-old David Warner is etched as the highest run-scoring overseas player in the IPL. The star Australian opening batter has amassed 6,565 runs in 184 matches and is among the top five players with the most runs in the league. However, Warner, who retired from international cricket earlier this year, had a meek run in IPL 2024. The batter could manage just 168 runs across eight matches for the Delhi Capitals. Moreover, the fact that Warner entered this year’s auction at a base price of ₹2 crore played against him. Despite his record of scoring over 500 runs in a season seven times, Warner didn’t interest any teams in Jeddah. After being overlooked initially, Warner was named in the accelerated round as well. However, with the batter now in his late thirties, there were no takers for him in the second round either.

Shardul Thakur

Shardul Thakur is not enduring the best phase of his career this season. The pace all-rounder, a key performer for India in the historic Gabba breach, couldn’t find a place in the India squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy this year. The Mumbai-based player was overlooked in favour of youngster Nitish Kumar Reddy for the Australia tour. To compound his woes, none of the ten teams bid for him in the mega auction. A title-winner with CSK in 2021, Thakur has played for three teams in the last three years. Delhi Capitals bought him in the 2022 mega auction before he was traded to Kolkata Knight Riders in 2023. While CSK took him back last year, the seamer didn’t get much game time. Thakur entered the IPL 2025 mega auction at a base price of ₹2 crore. However, his all-round abilities did not prove enough to engage any of the ten franchises.

Prithvi Shaw

Nothing seems to be going right for the player who was once considered the rightful successor to Tendulkar’s legacy in the sport. An elemental performer with the bat and the skipper of India’s U-19 World Cup-winning team, Shaw has seen a sharp decline in his career. The Mumbai-based cricketer has faced criticism for his off-the-field conduct. Moreover, reports suggest that DC, his former team in the IPL, faced reluctance from Shaw when asked to engage in practice and training sessions. A clearer reason for teams not opting for Shaw in the mega auction was his underwhelming performance last season. The batter managed just 198 runs across eight innings before DC replaced him with Abishek Porel.

Other prominent names that went unsold in the IPL auction included Steve Smith and Kane Williamson. Both players, registered at a base price of ₹2 crore, are not seen as T20 specialists. Additionally, English batter Jonny Bairstow, who played for PBKS last year, also missed out, as did Indian batter Mayank Agarwal.