Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
The mega auction of the IPL 2025 has created immense buzz among fans. There were quite a few surprises as IPL teams revealed their complete retention lists for the upcoming IPL 2025 season. Some players got a huge pay hike, while some international players were not retained by their respective franchises. One such player is Jos Buttler, who was released by the inaugural champions, Rajasthan Royals, ahead of IPL 2025 mega auction.
Since the news came out, there has been a lot of discussion over this decision among fans. Considering his previous form and overall contribution to the team over the years, fans were quite unhappy with the overall outcome. However, there are certain reasons why RR decided not to retain him for the next IPL season. Here in this article, SportsTiger aims to analyze these aspects.
Regular fitness concerns
One of the main reasons to drop Jos Buttler is his recent fitness issues. He is prone to a calf injury and hasn't played competitive cricket since ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. The 34-year-old has been left out of the West Indies ODIs as well due to his fitness concerns. Moreover, after missing a few series, the English opener wasn't in great form. His regular injuries may have pushed Rajasthan Royals to replace him with a young Indian player like Dhruv Jurel.
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Decline in performance
In 2022, the England white-ball captain had an incredible season, dominating the league. He has amassed 1614 runs in 42 innings since the 2022 Indian Premier League, including eight fifties and six hundreds, at an average of 42.47 and a strike rate of 144.62. Moreover, he was RR's top run-scorer in that edition. However, since then he has not been consistent. Although there have been two or three outstanding performances in the past two years, a team in T20 cricket prefers players who start consistently and have an effect, and he hasn't performed up to the mark.
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Keen to include young Indian players
Another major reason why RR doesn't want to retain Jos Buttler is to focus on core young Indian players. According to RR's Head Coach, Rahul Dravid, the franchise wants to bring in young Indian players who carry immense talent and drive. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel have game-changing abilities. Moreover, there is a period of changes, and the franchise has to make tough decisions. With Jos going through a rough phase in performance and fitness level, the decision not to retain him seems to be right.
