Five well known cricket stars who went unsold during IPL Auctions 2025

After two intense days of bidding, all ten teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auctions came to an end. Rishabh Pant was the highest pick as he was purchased for INR 27 Crores by Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday. India’s wicketkeeper and batter became the costliest player in the history of the league. 

Punjab Kings invested heavily in Shreyas Iyer for 26.75 Crores to briefly make him the costliest player in the league. Yuzvendra Chahal was also picked by the Punjab franchise while using their Right to Match card for Arshdeep Singh. Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders made smart buys to enjoy an successful stint on the table. 

Five time IPL winners Mumbai Indians were quiet on Sunday where they picked up Trent Boult. On Monday, the team made some huge moves as they purchases, Deepak Chahar and Will Jacks and also added Lizaad Williams to their line up. 

Here are the top 5 big name players who went unsold during the IPL 2025 auctions

5- Piyush Chawla 

The 35- year-old wasn’t picked by any team during the IPL Auctions held in Jeddah. Piyush Chawla last played for Mumbai Indians coming as a replacement player during IPL 2023. The veteran star was retained for the next season but he didn’t do much with the ball as Mumbai finished last in the table. Piyush Chawla is the second highest wicket-taker in the history of the league with 192 scalps. The leg-spinner has also won a IPL title with Kolkata in 2014 and is one of the most experienced names to go unsold. 

4-Kane Williamson

Former Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson was left unsold during the IPL Auctions 2025. The 34-year-old was the orange cap winner in 2018 when he scored over 700 runs for Hyderabad and also led them to the finals of the tournament. Kane Williamson hasn’t had a great time in the IPL but his stats aren’t that bad. In 79 games, Williamson scored 2125 runs with an average of 35 and a strike rate of 125. The right-handed batter has a best score of 89 and scored 18 fifties in the IPL. 

3- Shardul Thakur 

Not long ago, Shardul Thakur was a regular member of the Indian side and was considered a regular in the IPL. The 33-year-old though remained unsold during the Auction process despite his previous amazing performances in the league. Shardul Thakur had a season to forget with Chennai last season after spending a year in Kolkata. So far Thakur has played 95 games in the IPL and picked 94 wickets with a best of 4/36. With the bat, Thakur scored 307 runs with a best of 68 and has a strike rate of 138. 

2- Sarfaraz Khan 

Young Indian batting star Sarfaraz Khan went unsold during the IPL 2025 auctions. The right-handed batter has played 50 games in the IPL and scored 585 runs with a best of 67. His strike rate is 130 which is pretty acceptable for a batter playing in the middle order. In the recent few years, Sarfaraz Khan has been one of the best batters in the domestic circuit. It seems like many teams weren’t convinced with the numbers and decided to give him a skip. 

1- David Warner

IPL 2016 winning skipper, David Warner is a legend in the IPL. The left-handed batter is a multiple time orange cap winner and has consistently scored over 500 runs in almost every season. It is to be noted that David Warner is the 4th highest run scorer in the history of the league with 6565 runs from 184 matches. Warner has also hit 4 tons and 62 fifties with an average of 40 and a career strike rate of 139. It will be a strange feeling not to see warner take to the field during the IPL and come up with trademark shots to entertain the fans next year.