The IPL 2025 mega auction has brought some surprising twists, with Shardul Thakur and Prithvi Shaw remaining unsold on the final day of the two-day mega event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After the IPL 2025 auction, it was revealed why Shardul Thakur and Prithvi Shaw went unsold.

Ricky Ponting, the legendary Australian cricketer and current head coach of Punjab Kings (PBKS), worked with both Prithvi Shaw and Shardul Thakur when he was Delhi Capitals (DC) head coach till the 2024 season in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Ricky Ponting calls IPL 2025 Mega Auction snub sad for Shardul Thakur and Prithvi Shaw

They are some of the surprising names who have not found a buyer at the auction, which sparked widespread discussions, leaving many puzzled, but Ponting feels they don’t have that spark that IPL needs in this fast-evolving format of the game.

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Just two years ago, Shardul Thakur was a prized asset, but he was unable to generate any interest in this auction despite his strong all-round skills and high-profile past.

Thakur had been picked up for a hefty INR 10.75 crore in the 2022 auction, but his base price of INR 2 crore failed to attract any buyers at the recent IPL 2025 mega auction.

Ricky Ponting reflects on Shardul Thakur’s decline

It is being said Thakur’s high base price didn’t attract any franchise while some are blaming the timing of his bidding for him being unsold at the mega auction. Additionally, the Impact Player rule, which has changed team strategies, might have affected the demand for all-rounders like Thakur, said a franchise insider, as per Cricbuzz.

Reacting to the same, Ricky Ponting has expressed his surprise that Shardul went unsold at the auction. The Aussie legend also noted that Thakur was a hot commodity two years ago, but now his value has fallen drastically, saying the game seems to have caught up with him.

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Ricky Ponting was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz, “The game catches up with you, right? So, you know, Shardul, only a couple of years ago, I think we paid about INR 10 crores for him in an auction. And now he’s not. Now he’s unsold.”

Ponting feels “sad” for talented Prithvi Shaw

Meanwhile, Ponting also expressed disappointment over Prithvi Shaw’s situation, calling him the best talent he had worked with. Once compared to Sachin Tendulkar, Prithvi Shaw’s career has faltered due to indiscipline and fitness issues. Prithvi Shaw was recently dropped from the Mumbai Ranji team.

Ponting signed off by saying, “Sad. You know, Prithvi, I still say now he is as talented a player as I probably ever worked with. He goes unsold in the auction and then doesn’t even come back in the accelerator. And there are a lot of teams here that are looking at him. He’s not playing. But as I said, the game catches up with you. So, yeah, I guess that. Yeah, that’s about all you can say. When you look at something like that, it’s actually quite sad that he’s not….”

Also, a senior franchise coach, who has been involved in auction planning for over a decade, said that the franchises are looking for players who possess great six-hitting ability and can take down the bowlers from the first ball, with the players not falling in this category going unsold.

“Why did some of those players go unsold? It’s probably a combination of form and performance. The ability to hit sixes is now paramount,” the coach said as quoted by Cricbuzz.

While talking about the bowlers, the coach said that there is demand for attacking and defensive bowlers and the likes of Shardul Thakur, who don’t fall in either of the categories are not valued enough. He said:

“For bowlers, ball types that induce wickets (attacking bowler) or a template which ensures a bowler is bowling a high level of defensive type deliveries (defensive bowler) which are based around consistency of length, etc.”