The bids for a player at the auctions depends on a variety of factors. While the skills matter the most, the demand for the player’s profile has an impact. Sometimes, franchises would want the player to be part of the main XI, while at other times, they would want to have options in case of change in conditions or if any injury. Hence, even though a player might earn a big bid at the auctions, he may not get an opportunity in the actual tournament. In this article, we take a look at the five most expensive players who did not play a single game in IPL 2021.
One more factor that caused the lack of game time for a few players this season was that there was a halt of close to four months. Hence, injured players came back, and teams were looking to start afresh. Therefore, players further did not get any chances.
1) K Gowtham – INR 9.25 Cr
When CSK went after K Gowtham at the IPL 2021 auctions, many were surprised about it. CSK’s Indian contingent was one of the strongest and Gowtham would have hardly got any chances. Exactly that happened over the season. With all players performing well, CSK did not see the requirement of drafting in Gowtham. While the batting depth was taken care by the others, off-spin duties were duly carried out by Moeen Ali.
2) Kuldeep Yadav – INR 5.8 Cr
It was shocking that KKR did not make use of Kuldeep Yadav in the first phase of the tournament. The team was struggling and being a capped Indian, Kuldeep could have been useful. That said, KKR reached the finals and that was the important result. Kuldeep got himself injured in the UAE leg and was not available for selection.
3) Karn Sharma – INR 5 Cr
Karn Sharma is one of the expensive players who did not play a single game in IPL 2021. This has been the story of Karn Sharma for a few years now. He was brought for big bucks in the IPL 2018 auctions and since then, although he has not had an impact, CSK has not released him. Karn has also not got sufficient chances to prove himself. This was the case in 2021, as well.
4) Sam Billings – INR 2 Cr
Despite the absence of Shreyas Iyer in the first leg, Delhi Capitals did not make use of Sam Billings. In the UAE leg, Marcus Stoinis got himself injured and Ricky Ponting did not use the services of the Englishman. Hence, Billings’ IPL 2021 finished without playing a single game. Therefore, he is also a part of this list.
5) KC Cariappa – INR 1.2 Cr
KC Cariappa is a mystery spinner who came into the scene a few years ago when KKR purchased him for a big amount. However, he failed to do justice to the price tag. He represented few other franchises and got a chance with RR for IPL 2021. Despite the team struggling in the spin department, Rajasthan never made use of the spinner. Even the likes of Shreyas Gopal and Mayank Markhande got only very few games this edition.
