The Indian Premier League has never lacked drama. A player who only became a name during one season may easily become a household name the next, and the next one may be a stern message about how brutal the ecosystem of the tournament can be. Lighting performances that shine in one edition do not necessarily assure security in another.
The IPL 2025 season witnessed some of the players who have taken the limelight with their match-winning performances or their breakout campaigns and situations that have fascinated the imagination of the fans. However, after franchises repackaged their teams before the 2026 auction, some of those same names were left without a bid.
Whether they were unexpected or not, here are five players who shone in 2025 during IPL but remained unsold in 2026, yet that is just how uncertain the talent market of the league can be.
Nevertheless, failing to sell during the 2026 auction may not mean that the player is done with IPL. The kind of tournament implies that the possibilities may still appear, and franchises frequently introduce unsold players as the replacement of those who got injured in the middle of the season.
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Five IPL 2025 players who went unsold in the 2026 auction
1. Jonny Bairstow
Jonny Bairstow has been in danger of missing the Indian Premier League on several occasions. The England wicketkeeper-batter was not bought at the 2025 auction but signed by the Mumbai Indians in the second part of the season to replace Will Jacks.
But the violent top-order batter failed to appeal to the buyer once again in the latest mini-auction, and there are chances that his IPL days might be over.
Throughout the years, Bairstow has played in three teams, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians and has made 1,674 runs in 52 games. There were also two centuries in his IPL career, the most memorable one being his 108 against 48 balls against the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024, when his unbeaten century drove Punjab Kings to chase 262 in a stunning way.
2. Jake Fraser-McGurk
One of the most volatile young batters in the Indian Premier League a few years back, Jake Fraser-McGurk was surprisingly not bought in the 2026 auction. The Australian opener had already rocketed onto the stage with his fearless manner at the top of the order with the Delhi Capitals, and was now known to be an ultra-aggressive powerplay batter.
As IPL 2025 commenced, Fraser-McGurk was still displaying this style of attack by scoring quick runs and recording a tremendous striking rate that kept the bowlers on their toes. Nonetheless, even with the capability of transforming games within hours of the actual sale, the franchises preferred to seek other options at the auction table and the talented youngster was not sold.
3. Devon Conway
Devon Conway is a batter who has been very consistent in the IPL over the past few years, especially when with the Chennai Super Kings. But even with his history of being a consistent top-order batsman, the opener of the New Zealand team was auctioned at a surprisingly low price in the 2026 auction.
Overall, Conway in his IPL career has scored more than 1,080 runs in approximately 29 matches with an average of nearly 50 and a strike rate of nearly 140. He has several half-centuries and a maximum score of 92. Another of the most memorable of his seasons was in the IPL 2023, when he was one of the top run-scorers of CSK and helped the team in the winning campaign.
4. Karn Sharma
Karn Sharma has worked in various franchises in his extensive Indian Premier League experience, with teams including Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and this season being with the Mumbai Indians. But the long-time spinner was not sold at the mini-auction held in 2026, even with a base price of INR 50 lakh, which means that he is not going to be present in the 2027 edition of the tournament.
Sharma played in IPL 2025 with the Mumbai Indians and gave the team a consistent performance with the ball, where he took seven wickets in the season and offered the team some depth in its bowling.
5. Deepak Hooda
Deepak Hooda also played in 2025 in IPL with the Chennai Super Kings and had a fairly silent season. Hooda did not feature in many matches and had very few runs with only a few of them being in the middle of the order without a significant contribution to the scoreboard.
Throughout his IPL career, Hooda has appeared in more than 100 games and has scored in excess of 1,496 runs, as well as, taking a couple of wickets with the ball. His humble earnings in the IPL 2025 and cutthroat nature in fighting middle-order positions had cost him his sale on the mini-auction in 2026, so his future in the league remains undecided at the moment.
The narratives of these five participants highlight one of the most notable facts about the IPL: fame and previous achievements can seldom give one a ticket to the following season. As franchises keep revising their lineups based on form, balance and future, even season-bright players are being ignored the next season.
However, the nature of the tournament implies that the door is not fully closed so often. This is due to injuries, mid-season replacements, and a change of team strategy, which provides unsold players with another chance to reappear. In the case of Jonny Bairstow, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Devon Conway, Karn Sharma, and Deepak Hooda, the IPL story is perhaps yet to get another chapter. The snubbing of the auction today in the IPL, traditionally characterised by dramatic comebacks, might easily turn into a redemption story in the near future.
