Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra expressed surprise over Rajasthan Royals (RR) decision to retain Shimron Hetmyer ahead of Jos Buttler for the IPL 2025 season.
Aakash Chopra also stated that the Jaipur-based franchise can’t use a “Right to Match” card to reacquire Jos Buttler at the mega auction.
Rajasthan Royals have retained six players ahead of the upcoming mega auction, which is set to take place on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. They retained skipper Sanju Samson as their first pick for Rs 18 crore. Yashasvi Jaiswal also signed a contract with RR for a deal of Rs 18 crore.
They retained Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel for Rs 14 crore each and Sandeep Sharma as an ‘uncapped’ player for Rs 4 crore before the auction. However, they surprised fans by retaining only one overseas player, Shimron Hetmyer, for Rs 11 crore. Jos Buttler wasn’t retained despite his impressive outings.
Rajasthan Royals Had A Lot Of Players To Be Retained – Aakash Chopra
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said that Rajasthan Royals’ retention of Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal was expected, but the choice of other retained players raised some eyebrows. Chopra pointed out that RR had several players available for retention.
“Rajasthan Royals was a team that had a lot of players to be retained. Whoever they would have left would have been unhappy. There are questions for sure. The three names that seemed would definitely stay included Sanju Samson, who is the captain, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. It was known that these two would 100 percent stay,” Chopra said.
What Is The Logic? – Aakash Chopra
The cricketer-turned-commentator questioned the logic behind retaining Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag over Jos Buttler. Chopra stated that RR doesn’t have a Right to Match (RTM) option for Buttler in the upcoming auction.
“It was assumed that Riyan Parag would also stay and he stayed as well, although you thought Jos Buttler would be retained before Riyan Parag. Jos wasn’t retained and Shimron Hetmyer was retained. What is the logic? You let Jos Buttler go and you don’t have an RTM left as well,” Chopra added.
Jos Buttler Is Their Global Brand Ambassador – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra highlighted that Jos Buttler played match-winning performances for the Rajasthan Royals despite not being in peak form over the last two years.
Chopra pointed out that Buttler is a global brand ambassador for the franchise and plays with their sister team, Paarl Royals.
“I admit that Jos Buttler’s last two years haven’t been that good but when he played badly, he scored two centuries, and both in winning causes. Whenever Jos does well, he wins the match, but they let him go. It seems like Jos is their global brand ambassador. He plays for them for the Paarl Royals as well. So you assumed this partnership would continue. I was very surprised they let Jos go,” Chopra said.
Jos Buttler scored 359 runs in 11 innings in IPL 2024 at an average of 39.89, including two centuries. Buttler joined RR in 2018 and scored 3,055 runs in 83 matches at an average of 41.28 and a strike rate of 147.79, including 18 fifties and seven centuries. RR has a limited budget of ₹41 crore for the auction.
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