Former CSK batter Abhinav Mukund has blasted Rajasthan Royals' strategy at the auction before IPL 2025 season. The comments come after Royals crashed out of the playoff race post their eighth loss in 11 games with the latest loss coming on Thursday (May 1) against Mumbai Indians.

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“Their one good bowler, the one they have spent most money on, is Archer. Unfortunately, their Indian pick did not go well. Tushar Deshpande, who was benched for this particular game, was bought for a lot of money (INR 6.75 crore). Then again, you had three plus one something that you invested in two more Indian batters, Nitish Rana and Vaibhav Suryavanshi,” said Mukund while talking to ESPNCricinfo.

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“How much ever I think, I would have still not bought Vaibhav Suryavanshi for INR 1.1 crore, and Nitish Rana for INR 3 crore (INR 4.2 crore). I would have invested that money in a couple of good bowlers. Look at their bowling last year, forget the big names, you still got Avesh Khan, Chahal, Ashwin, Trent Boult, and Sandeep Sharma, these are five bankable proper bowlers,” he added.

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Last match's hero Vaibhav Suryavanshi was dismissed for a second-ball duck against Mumbai and RR could never really get going. By the time powerplay ended, half of home side was back in the dugout for just 62 runs on the board.

The 218-run chase was never going to happen and it was a matter of time before MI bowled them out for 117 in 16.1 overs - the delay was largely caused by Jofra Archer's 27-ball 30 innings - the highest individual score for RR on the night.

RR now sit eighth on the 10-team points table with just six points from three wins they have managed in 11 games. They have three more games left in the season which they'd hoping to use for get some answers for the next year.