Adam Gilchrist, a former Australian wicketkeeper, blasted the team’s management for letting go of the top English batsman. Rajasthan Royals (RR) were eliminated from the IPL 2025 playoffs after losing to the Mumbai Indians (MI) by a humiliating 100 runs in Jaipur on May 1. In addition to ending RR’s season, the loss raised concerns about their preseason choices, particularly the benching of Jos Buttler.
The Royals made waves by letting go of key players like Jos Buttler, Trent Boult, and Yuzvendra Chahal, despite keeping six players ahead of the 2025 campaign. They were greatly hindered by the decision. RR was having trouble winning games since captain Sanju Samson was out for the majority of the season and the young Indian core was not playing well. They have only won three of their 11 games thus far. In his critique, Gilchrist said that someone must take responsibility for the choice.
“We heard Mike Hussey acknowledge that CSK is out because they made a mistake at the auction. Someone must take responsibility for the outcome of the Jos Buttler decision. Since RR made a mistake, they are also deleted. Therefore, some responsibility is required. I would have assumed that they must be asking enquiries on the inside.
“That was a huge error,” Adam Gilchrist wrote on Cricbuzz.
Buttler, who was purchased at the mega auction for INR 15.75 crore, has performed admirably at his new team, the Gujarat Titans. The English batsman has amassed 406 runs at a strike rate of 168.46 in nine innings, despite starting at No. 3 instead of his typical opening position. Notably, Buttler hit a game-winning fifty in the encounter against RR.
After spending INR 79 crore on six players—Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, and Sandeep Sharma—RR’s retention plan left them with just INR 41 crore to rebuild their team. The middle order of Jurel and Hetmyer, who were kept at a combined INR 25 crore, were unable to complete games, while the all-Indian batting core underperformed under duress, particularly without Samson. Samson, meantime, has already acknowledged that it was hard for him to let Buttler go.
“For me, letting him go has been one of the hardest choices. I told him over dinner during the England series that I still hadn’t moved on. RR skipper Samson told Jio Hotstar, “If I could change one thing about the IPL, it would be the rule that players are released every three years.”
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