Credit: BCCI/IPL
Not everyone is supposed to succeed exceptionally in the testing waters of the famed IPL. But not always does one get or attract the kind of financial spending as with some of the 'rich' IPL guys, the ones who attract an exorbitant sum, which is why succeeding becomes a must, in a bid to repay the faith of one's backers.
But the funny thing about cricket, as with other team based sports driven by individual peformances, is that you can never predict how the imminent future may prevail. You simply can't say what's to come. At times, the one's that attract the biggest bids, end up disappointing in the biggest possible way, do they not?
One actually learned this sad lesson in this recent edition of the IPL 2025 where, rather surprisingly, some very prominent names just didn't succeed in the end. So who are these talents that failed to fire?
Mohammed Shami (Sunrisers Hyderabad INR 10 CR)
Someone who has so often been so good and become a mainstay of the Indian national team's frontline pace attack, Shami has become a bit of a legend in all these years for his country.
Having said that, overall, Mohd. Shami has been a mainstay where it comes to different IPL teams where it comes to fast bowling as well but on this occasion, in 2025, he was quite a let down.
Especially given the huge figure he was splashed on for by his Hyderabad team outfit, Shami with just 6 wickets this season, was somewhere the reason for a big disappointment that too at an economy rate of 11.23.
Ravichandran Ashwin (Chennai Super Kings INR 9.75 cr)
Usually a magnificent talent, someone whose off spinners have induced countless mimicking among the youth where it comes to his bowling action, Ashwin, who's been a legend of the sport, ended up being a massive disappointment this time around.
That's also down to the fact that while his IPL outfit, one belonging to his home, ended up spending a huge figure for his acquisition, Ashwin's returns with the white ball in the IPL didn't really do justice to the weight of money spent.
So what did he end up with?
While someone like a Noor Ahmad made full use of the slow turning wicket at CSK's home ground, someone like Ashiwn, an icon of CSK, failed this time around. He was expedcted to be ruling ths spin department and thus provide vital bowling support to his team, he did anything but in 2025.
Not only did he fail in the wicket-taking department, taking just 7 wickets and that too, from 9 outings for his famed five-time title winning side, he also finished with an economy touching 10.
Jake Fraser-McGurk (Delhi Capitals INR 9 cr)
One of the most dangerous and unpredictable batters around, especially when one considers the talent of youth operating out there, it alomsot seems that while Jake Fraser-McGurk is a talented lad, he's also a bit capricious and maybe not always in full control of his innings.
The problem with talent is that it will deliver, but can it always or regularly deliver- this, somwhere, is the question that unfailingly strikes the mind when one thinks of Jake Fraser-McGurk.
He's a daring and carefree batter and at the same time, someone who is perhaps a touch too unbothered by the way he operates there. At times, he's been seen going after bowlers from the very first delivery itself, which has always led to his downfall, especially in the IPL format.
This season, McGurk made 55 runs from 6 outings with the bat. This wasn't just an ordinary outing for the young Aussie, this was a marked failure, a horrible one, truth be told.
Venkatesh Iyer (Kolkata Knight Riders INR 23.7 cr)
Venkatesh Iyer has known the feeling of being an IPL champion and moreover, has already experienced the sensational high of winning the prized crown. That was the last season around where in the match-winning final against SRH, he himself scored an unbeaten fifty.
However, this time around, Iyer, not only struggled with the bat, he actually seemed a bit of a misfit for the venerable KKR team this time around. With the bat in hand, he was clearly insipid and just didn't seem to possess the fire and the intent with which we've seen him play the IPL with.
All he ever made were those lowkey 142 runs and took 11 innings to score those. His batting average was just about 2020 and that's that. A question, but, prevailed- did batting from the lower order add to his woes this time around?
Rishabh Pant (Lucknow SuperGiants INR 27 cr)
Pant, truth be told, was a colossal failure this time around. At first, he attracted the massive amount that he did, definitely, the highest amount that was paid by any outfit for any player in IPL 2025. But then the batting goods just didn't come. He simply wasn't able to deliver, was he?
While it did seem on occasions, that he would turn a quick start into a promising score in the end, he simply failed to make the cut. Often times, he hit some weird, risky strokes in the air and flirted with danger and until the very fag end of his Lucknow outfit's time in the tournament, he simply didn't click.
This was very unlike Rishabh Pant stuff that one had come to see. Alas, the fantastic century he did hit in the end, came too late for his team's liking or comfort.
Although he made 269 runs in the end, just that those came from as many as 14 innings. And this time around, Pant's strike rate too, was a bit sluggish at 133.
