5 Players RR must release before IPL 2026

Rajasthan Royals (RR) displayed incredible belief in the young players, who bagged a huge prize in the retention before the mega auction. However, things have not gone as planned, and it will be important for the franchise to get rid of a few highly paid players to stabilize the combination.

Rajasthan was ahead of many fixtures, but they couldn’t handle the pressure in a crunch situation. Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer haven’t contributed much in the lower order.

Even though RR’s fielding coach defended the auction strategy, most of the high-priced members failed to live up to expectations.

Here are the five players RR must release before the IPL 2026

1. Shimron Hetmyer

Rajasthan retained the aggressive southpaw batter, Shimron Hetmyer, for a huge price of INR 11 crore before the auction. They showed enough confidence in the batter, more than their successful opening wicket-keeper batter, Jos Buttler.

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But Hetmyer couldn’t crack the IPL 2025 season for RR. He accumulated 227 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 142.76 with just one half-century in his name. There were instances of him being in the crease till the last over, but he couldn’t carry them over the line.

The Royal may look to release him in the mini auction, and if required, they can get him back for a lower price.

2. Dhruv Jurel

It’s the same theory with the wicket-keeper middle-order batter Dhruv Jurel. RR retained his services for a whopping price of INR 14 crore. Meanwhile, he was also in many crunch situations of the game, where he failed to convert the starts into a huge score on the board.

Jurel collected 302 runs in 12 innings this year at a strike rate of 150. This is not the real picture of how he performed in IPL 2025. On many occasions, he had the chance to put pressure on the opponent side, but his slow knock at the beginning increased the pressure, and that ended in a defeat.

3. Fazalhaq Farooqi

The left-arm Afghanistan pacer, Fazalhaq Farooqi, is going through the worst and most struggling period of his career in this IPL. He is yet to celebrate a wicket this season and has leaked 210 runs in 17 overs across five innings at an economy rate of 12.35.

That’s the most runs a bowler has given in a T20 event without picking a wicket. RR’s plan to bag Farooqi and use his with the new ball hasn’t worked out. They are expected to leave him in the auction before the new season and find a few other options.

4. Tushar Deshpande

RR fought hard with the Chennai Super Kings to sign the Mumbai-born pacer, Tushar Deshpande, who was decent in the last few seasons for the five-time champions. Tushar, who claimed 38 wickets in 29 innings of the last two seasons, has got just eight this year at an economy rate of nearly 11.

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In most games, he has failed to complete his quota of four overs, and that has increased pressure on the captain to use his part-timers more in the bowling.

5. Maheesh Theekshana

Maheesh Theeskhana came to the RR side for a price of INR 4.40 crore. However, it can go down if the franchise decides to dilute him in the auction and buy him back for a lower price.

The Sri Lankan spinner has picked up 11 wickets in 11 innings at an economy rate of 9.76 and a strike rate of 22.90. It could be a smart move from the side to look for different options, leaving Theekshana out.