Ishan Kishan out of SRH!! Rishabh Pant, Venkatesh Iyer's Multi-Crore contracts cancelled before IPL 2026
Published - 27 May 2025, 02:31 PM | Updated - 27 May 2025, 04:46 PM
Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) cricketer, Varun Aaron gave a bold prediction on big players that IPL franchises can release ahead of IPL 2026.
IPL 2025 will end on June 3 and all four teams are confirmed for the playoffs, so the eliminated teams have time to rethink their plan for the next season.
Varun Aaron picks
Varun Aaron picked the players who went for the big bucks in the mega auction but couldn’t meet the expectations of the franchise.
Chennai Super Kings finished in the last position this season, and Aaron picked three players from CSK to be released ahead of next season.
Ravichandran Ashwin was brought back to the Chepauk at a whopping INR 9.75 crore by Chennai. But Ashwin’s return couldn’t help CSK avoid a wooden spoon finish.
Ashwin failed to perform with both bat and ball on his return to his home side. He scored just 33 runs and took seven wickets from nine appearances in the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League.
Aaron also picked the Kiwi duo, Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway, who were retained by the franchise ahead of the mega auction.
Aaron also didn’t feel Ishan Kishan proved his price tag, as he just played two good knocks in the season. Kishan was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping price of INR 11.25 crore, and apart from his unbeaten 106 runs in the opening match and unbeaten 94 in the last match, Kishan scored just 154 runs in 12 matches.
Ravi Bishnoi also had a forgettable season as he just scalped eight wickets in 11 matches with an economy rate of above 10. Bishnoi was retained by the Lucknow Super Giants.
The two most expensive players in IPL 2025
Varun Aaron believed that Lucknow should release their skipper, who is the most expensive player in the tournament's history. Rishabh Pant also had an unforgettable season as the southpaw failed in almost every match this season.
Pant scored only 151 runs at a scrappy average of 13.72 and barely maintained the strike-rate of 100 in this season. Pant’s best inning came against Chennai when he scored 63 runs in 49 balls, which was in the losing cause as well.
Venkatesh Iyer is the third most expensive player in IPL history, as the homecoming for Venkatesh Iyer came for INR 23.75 crore to the Kolkata Knight Riders team.
Venkatesh couldn’t define the price tag and scored only 142 runs at an average of 20.28 which became one of the biggest flops of this season.
Varon Aaron’s retainers list
Aaron also picked players who will be retained by their franchise due to their performance. Aaron feels Nitish Kumar Reddy should be retained by his team, as Hyderabad should invest in him for future seasons.
The pacer also backed KKR’s skipper, Ajinkya Rahane, to be retained ahead of IPL 2026. Rahane scored 390 runs in 13 matches so far in the tournament, and he is the highest run-scorer for his franchise.
Read also: Watch- Virender Sehwag absolutely crushes Rohit Sharma on LIVE TV in IPL Commentary
Tagged:
IPL Sunrisers Hyderabad Royal Challengers Bangalore Lucknow Super Giants Kolkata Knight Riders Chennai Super Kings Rishabh Pant Ravichandran Ashwin Ravi Bishnoi Venkatesh Iyer Devon Conway Rachin Ravindra Ishan Kishan
