While the 2025 IPL season has witnessed some memorable performances, there have been a few big players who haven’t lived up to their reputation.
Teams forked out in excess of ?690 crore on players during the 2025 IPL Mega Auction and now after the first season of this three-year cycle, we’ll take a look at the top five most expensive flops of this edition.
From Rishabh Pant to Venkatesh Iyer to Jake Fraser-McGurk, from Mohammed Shami to T Natarajan – we look at five stars who have failed to deliver on their promise and hefty price tags in this edition of the Indian Premier League.
#5 Mohammed Shami (SRH) – INR 10 Crore
Mohammed Shami has been a stalwart and one of the most prolific wicket-takers in the last five editions of the IPL. In fact, Shami was the highest wicket-taker in the IPL between 2019 and 2023 and bagged a total of 106 wickets in 75 outings at a sensational strike rate of 16.2 in these five seasons.
Shami’s dramatic drop in form in IPL 2025 has been one of the major reasons for the poor showing by his new franchise – Sunrisers Hyderabad – the finalists from the 2024 season.
The veteran Indian pacer has taken just six wickets in nine matches, with a dismal economy rate of 11.23 – easily one of the worst among frontline pacers this season. Far from his usual sharpness, he has leaked runs in the Powerplay and at the death, turning match situations from manageable to messy.
His career IPL numbers – 133 wickets in 119 matches, with an economy rate of 8.63 – now seem a distant memory, as fitness issues and waning pace appear to have caught up with the 34 year old.
#4 Jake Fraser-McGurk (DC) – INR 9 Crore
Jake Fraser McGurk was one of the shining lights of the 2024 IPL season where he scored 330 runs in just nine innings at a staggering strike rate of 234.04 – the highest strike rate in the tournament amongst all batters who scored a minimum of 100 runs.
However, his form since then had dipped massively and it was really a surprise to most people when the Delhi Capitals used one of their Right To Match (RTM) cards to retain his services for ?9 crore. But, cricket is a great leveller and both DC and Fraser-McGurk have learnt that the hard way in IPL 2025.
The 23-year-old could only muster 55 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 105.76 for the Delhi Capitals before being dropped from the XI. Interestingly, the young Australian struggled against pace this season with fast bowlers accounting for five of his six dismissals.
#3 T Natarajan (DC) – INR 10.75 Crore
After a prolific 2024 campaign with SRH where his 19 wickets and accurate death bowling were instrumental in guiding SRH to the IPL final, the 34-year-old had to undergo a shoulder surgery mid-August. The Delhi Capitals knew it would be a long recovery, however, they were adamant in their pursuit and landed the bowler with a staggering ?10.75 crore bid.
Ahead of the 2025 season, the NCA (National Cricket Academy) cleared the left-arm pacer for the tournament, but it took DC the called-off Match 58 in Dharamshala to bring in the 34-year-old into the playing XI. He again played but only once against the Gujarat Titans in Match 60 where he went for 0-49 in three overs. Thus, it’d be fair to assume that it’s up there with some of the worst buys in recent IPL history.
#2 Rishabh Pant (LSG) – INR 27 Crore
The Sanjiv Goenka-led Lucknow Super Giants forked out a whopping ?27 crore bid to make Rishabh Pant the most expensive player in IPL Auction history. While it is understandable that they see him as a 3-D player (wicketkeeper, batter & skipper), his lack of output in the batting department has gravely affected his other two facets of play this season.
The LSG skipper has failed to deliver with the bat this season. Although he finished the season with a magnificent century against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru which has made his stats somewhat respectable, however, at one point, he managed to score just 128 runs in 11 matches at a shocking strike rate of 99.22 – it was the lowest strike rate amongst the 67 batters who had scored a minimum of 100 runs at that point during the season.
Pant registered seven single-digit scores this season while only producing two substantial knocks – (118* off 61 balls & 63 off 49 balls) – that too in a losing cause against both RCB and CSK, respectively. While he did many things right as a leader, Pant’s sluggish batting performances put enormous pressure on the LSG top and middle-order batters and is one of the contributing factors to their reversal of fortunes after a blistering start to the season.
#1 Venkatesh Iyer (KKR) – INR 23.75 Crore
When Kolkata Knight Riders shelled out ?23.75 crore for Venkatesh Iyer at the IPL 2025 mega auction, they believed they were securing a game-changer – someone who had proven his worth in earlier seasons and someone who they could counted on to become their next leader. What they got instead was a liability dressed as a marquee signing.
For the staggering ?23.75 crore invested in him, Venky delivered a paltry return of just 142 runs across 11 outings at a strike rate of 139.22 which flatters to deceive – largely inflated by two cameo innings one of which was a 29-ball 60 against SRH.
More importantly, in key moments, the 30-year-old has simply crumbled this season. His lowest point was a torturous 14 off 19 balls at the Eden Gardens against Gujarat Titans – Iyer’s slowest T20 innings ever – that derailed a run chase and left fans fuming. The crowd, the pressure, the price tag, and the added responsibilities – all seem to be weighing him down.
From being a reliable power-hitter to looking like a walking wicket, Iyer’s form nosedived. His failure to anchor or accelerate innings has hurt KKR badly this season, giving away the momentum to the opposition time and again.
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