‘I would not have bought Vaibhav Suryavanshi for…’: Ex-CSK star blames RR mega auction strategy for IPL 2025 disaster

RR joined CSK to become the second team to get knocked out of playoff contention, on Friday in Jaipur. Taking on MI in their IPL 2025 fixture, RR lost by 100 runs and are ninth in the points table with eight defeats and three losses. Speaking after the match, former CSK player Abhinav Mukund lashed out at the RR management for going overspending on batters at the mega auction in Jeddah last year.

He also felt that they didn’t focus on their bowling combination, which proved to be their weakness in IPL 2025. Against MI, matters worsened for RR as star bowlers Sandeep Sharma and Wanindu Hasaranga were ruled out.

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Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, he said, “Their one good bowler, the one they have spent most money on, is Archer. Unfortunately, their Indian pick did not go well. Tushar Deshpande, who was benched for this particular game, was bought for a lot of money (INR 6.75 crore). Then again, you had three plus one something that you invested in two more Indian batters, Nitish Rana and Vaibhav Suryavanshi.”

“How much ever I think, I would have still not bought Vaibhav Suryavanshi for INR 1.1 crore, and Nitish Rana for INR 3 crore (INR 4.2 crore). I would have invested that money in a couple of good bowlers. Look at their bowling last year, forget the big names, you still got Avesh Khan, Chahal, Ashwin, Trent Boult, and Sandeep Sharma, these are five bankable proper bowlers,” he added.

Against MI, 14-year-old Suryavanshi was dismissed for a two-ball duck. Meanwhile, Nitish Rana departed for nine runs off 11 balls. Chasing 218 runs, RR were bowled out for 117 runs in 16.1 overs as Karn Sharma and Trent Boult took three-wicket hauls respectively. Initially, half-centuries from Ryan Rickelton (61) and Rohit Sharma (53) saw MI post 217/2 in 20 overs.