IPL 2025: 5 highly paid players yet to play a match

Mayank Yadav. (Source - IPL)

The , apart from being a tournament filled with some of the biggest talented players in the cricketing world, also provides a big pay cheque to many cricketers, bringing them fame and money together. The players who normally get a high price tend to get a lot of games since there is a lot of trust shown by the franchise in these players.

However, there are still instances where some of the franchises, even after investing a lot in these players, have not given them a single match in the tournament. While a few exclusions were made due to injury concerns, a lot o names haven't gotten games due to the Impact Player rule and the presence of bigger stars in the squad. It is time to discuss who these big-money players are and why they have not played a single match in the tournament so far. 

Here are 5 highly paid players yet to play a match in IPL 2025: 5. Rovman Powell - INR 1.50 crore (Kolkata Knight Riders) Rovman Powell (Photo Source: Twitter)

Rovman Powell was snatched by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for his base price of INR 1.50 crore. This was already a big price for any player and though he had no further bidders apart from the defending champions, this is still a lot of money given by the franchise. However, Powell is yet to get a game in IPL 2025 which might be due to the team’s trust on players like Andre Russell and Rinku Singh.

The 31-year-old all-rounder was part of the Rajasthan Royals team last season, which went on to make the playoffs of the tournament. Powell played 10 games that season and scored 103 runs at an average of 17.16 and had a strike rate of 151.47.

4. Gerald Ceotzee - INR 2.40 crore (Gujarat Titans) Gerald Coetzee. (Photo Source: X(Twitter)

Young pacer is one of the upcoming pacers in South African cricket who is known for his skiddy pace and wicket-taking ability. He was bought in the auction by the Gujarat Titans (GT) for INR 2.40 crore. Though there have been some injury cases recently, he is still seen in the GT dugout. There were speculations that the 24-year-old might get a game in place of Kagiso Rabada, but it turns out that the team has put a lot of trust in their Indian pacers, who are having a great tournament so far.

Coetzee was part of the Mumbai Indians in the last edition, in which he had a decent outing for his first ever season in the tournament. Though the right-arm pacer was slightly expensive, he still managed to take 13 wickets in the 10 matches he played at an average of 26.23.

3. Jacob Bethell - INR 2.60 crore (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) Jacob Bethell. (Source - Getty Images)

is suddenly one of the upcoming stars in English cricket so far, and the 21-year-old was roped in for INR 2.60 crore at the mega auction. The English all-rounder has already played some great cricket in the international scene. Many experts thought that Bethell would get some games this season in the IPL, but the franchise seems to have put their trust in Bethell's fellow national Liam Livingstone.

Though Bethell has not yet played a single match in the IPL, he has given some great performance in the Vitality blast playing for Warwickshire. The last season he played in the English T20 league, he scored 361 runs at an average of 36.10 and had a strike rate of 153.61.

2. Thangarasu Natarajan - INR 10.75 crore (Delhi Capitals) Thangarasu Natarajan. (Photo by Cameron Spencer; CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

There were some big buys made by the Delhi Capitals in the auction, and one of them was Tamil Nadu left-arm seamer , who was bought by the franchise for 10.75 crore. Natarajan is known for his ability to bowl at the death and is consistent with his yorkers and variations. Despite being bought for a huge price, he has not gotten to play a single game this season, which is surprising.  The Axar Patel-led side is having a great season so far and has a lot of trust in their seam attack, which includes the likes of Mitchell Starc, Mukesh Kumar, and Mohit Sharma.

Natarajan played a huge role for the Sunrisers Hyderabad last season where he took 19 wickets from the 14 games he played at an average of 24.47. Though he had a slightly expensive economy rate of 9.05, he was still a trusted a wicket-taker for the franchise that also made it to the finals in the 2024 edition, but eventually lost to Kolkata Knight Riders.

1. Mayank Yadav - INR 11.00 crore (Lucknow Super Giants) Mayank Yadav (Source: Getty Images)

Some young pacers came into the limelight in the last season and one of them was fiery LSG's speedster , who was eventually retained for INR 11 crore ahead of the 2025 season. Unlike the other players discussed above, the New Delhi-born had to miss out the first half due to injury concerns, which is one of the reasons for his absence.

The player has made his way back into the LSG set-up, but hasn't featured in any of LSG's last couple of games. Notably, the injury concerns started from Mayank Yadav’s first season itself since he was only able to feature in four games where he took seven wickets. His best figures of the tournament came against RCB, where he finished with figures of 3/14 in the last season and impressed everyone in the little chances he got. He will hope to return to the field with his fiery pace soon, as Rishabh Pant & Co are in a dire need of some real bowling mastery.