Is Shardul Thakur Playing IPL 2025?

Aakash Saini

Shardul Thakur [Source: @IPL/x]Shardul Thakur [Source: @IPL/x]

Shardul Thakur seems to be putting up a bowling exhibition to remember for Mumbai in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 season. Mere days after rattling Nagaland with a match-winning three-fer in Hyderabad, the senior paceman orchestrated another match-defining spell, this time pummeling Services with astonishing figures of 4-25.

Overall, in his first five matches of the season, Thakur has bagged 11 wickets for Mumbai at an impressive bowling strike rate of 10.90. Amidst his prolific wicket-taking spree in India’s prestigious domestic T20 tournament, here we examine if the speedster will be playing the IPL 2025 season next year or not.

Is Shardul Thakur playing IPL 2025?

Shardul Thakur, a veteran of 95 IPL matches and a two-time title winning player, was released by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise on the day of IPL 2025 retention announcement in October this year. Back during the IPL 2024 season, the cricketer played nine matches for CSK, and managed to pick up just five wickets at an expensive average of 61.80.

Unfortunately for Shardul Thakur, his lackluster season with both bat and bowl made him an undesirable commodity for all franchises at the IPL 2025 mega auction in Saudi Arabia.

Despite going unsold at the auction, the doors are not yet fully closed for Thakur. The 33-year-old might still play the IPL 2025 season as a last-minute pick for any of the 10 competing franchises as an injury replacement.

Thakur’s recent bowling form for Mumbai in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 has certainly justified his claim, and the star all-rounder might well have prompted certain franchises to sign him prior to the impending IPL event.

Shardul Thakur IPL stats

Shardul Thakur made his IPL debut back in 2015 for the Punjab Kings franchise. To date, the fast-bowling all-rounder has played 95 IPL matches for five different teams spanning nine different seasons.

In 92 innings with the ball, Thakur picked up 94 wickets at an average of 30.52. With the bat, the dashing lower-order batter has tallied 307 runs in 37 innings at a staggering strike rate of 138.91.

Shardul Thakur played a key role in CSK’s title-winning campaigns from 2018 and 2021, picking up 16 and 21 wickets respectively in both seasons.