Abhinav Mukund slams RR for not strengthening bowling line-up in IPL 2025 auction after getting eliminated

Former Indian batter Abhinav Mukund questioned Rajasthan Royals’ management for not trying to strengthen their bowling attack in the auction after they were knocked out of the IPL 2025 playoffs race. RR suffered a huge loss of 100 runs against Mumbai Indians at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur, which confirmed their elimination from the tournament.

The former Tamil Nadu batter believes the inaugural champions should have looked to add more strength to their bowling line up. RR decided to release Avesh Khan, Trent Boult, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Yuzvendra Chahal ahead of the auction.

Mukund reckons they overspent on Tushar Deshpande in the auction and they should have roped in a bowler in place of Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Nitish Rana. 

“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,” Abhinav Mukund said on ESPN Cricinfo.

Meanwhile, Sandeep Sharma has been ruled out of the rest of the season due to injury whereas Wanindu Hasaranga had a niggle for the match against MI.

“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.

RR was bundled out for only 117 runs in the run-chase of 218 against Mumbai Indians. Rajasthan Royals will next take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Sunday.