IPL 2026: Five players who will be looking to bounce back after struggling in IPL 2025 

The Indian Premier League (IPL) will return for its 19th season on March 28, with a number of the world’s biggest stars looking to make an impact on franchise cricket’s biggest stage. 

With the IPL becoming an increasingly cutthroat arena, and franchises more and more willing to move on from players showing signs of decline, extended spells of low performance can be a significant cause of concern for players. 

Here are five players that struggled in 2025 who will be hoping to turn around their form in IPL 2026:

Rishabh Pant (Lucknow Super Giants)

Coming into the 2025 season, all eyes were firmly trained on Rishabh Pant. Having ended his long-term association with Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants splashed the cash on the wicketkeeper-batter, spending Rs. 27.50 crore on him, making him the most expensive player ever bought in an IPL auction, and appointing him as captain with expectations high. 

However, Pant endured a torrid season for the side. He managed just 269 runs from 14 innings at a strike-rate of 133.16, a record significantly embellished by an unbeaten 118 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru once the side was already eliminated. Now seemingly far away from India’s white-ball setups, Pant will be keen to put in a strong showing in his second season in charge of LSG to throw his name back into the hat for national contention.

Venkatesh Iyer (Royal Challengers Bengaluru)

Another player who seemed to struggle under the weight of his price-tag in IPL 2025, a few eyebrows were raised when Kolkata Knight Riders spent Rs. 23.75 crore to bring Venkatesh Iyer back in the 2025 mega-auction. 

The explosive and versatile batter had back-to-back good seasons in purple and gold, and had played a key role in the side’s 2024 title victory, but 2025 proved far less successful. He scored 142 runs from seven matches at a strike-rate 139.21 as his own fortunes mirrored his side’s.

KKR let go of Venkatesh ahead of the 2026 auction, and he was snapped up by Royal Challengers Bengaluru, where he is likely to bat in the middle-order, though his place in the side is not assured. The Madhya Pradesh batter will hope that the switch to the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium can lead to an uptick in his fortunes.

Mohammed Shami (Lucknow Super Giants)

Few were as potent with the ball in hand between 2022 and 2024 as Mohammed Shami. The Bengal quick took 48 wickets in 33 matches for Gujarat Titans in that time, and when he was snapped up by Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of the 2025 season to partner Pat Cummins, expectations were high.

Shami, though, suffered a tough season on good batting wickets, taking six wickets in nine matches at an average of 56.16 and an economy of 11.23. However, on the back of a strong domestic season, the 35-year-old will be optimistic that a trade to Lucknow Super Giants will be beneficial. He has been brought in to spearhead a promising but injury-prone bowling attack featuring the likes of Avesh Khan, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, and Mohsin Khan, and will be out to reassert his quality again.

Shimron Hetmyer (Rajasthan Royals) 

Rajasthan Royals made a gamble ahead of the 2025 mega-auction, opting to retain West Indies’ Shimron Hetmyer despite a lean 2024 season as a specialist finisher. It was not a move that seemed to pay off, as the southpaw scored 239 runs at a strike-rate of 145.73, his lowest since his first season in IPL. More worryingly for its finisher, RR failed to get over the line in a number of close chases. 

However, Hetmyer comes into 2026 fresh off a fantastic T20 World Cup, where he was the standout batter for West Indies (albeit batting up the order). The Royals will be hopeful that he can bring that run of form into this tournament, where he will be sharing finishing duties with Donovan Ferreira. 

Rashid Khan (Gujarat Titans)

Rashid Khan has established himself as one of the biggest stars in the IPL, but 2025 was the second season in a row that the Afghanistan spinner has struggled for wickets. Rashid managed just nine wickets in 15 matches at an average of 57.11 and an economy of 9.34, marking the first time in his nine seasons in the league that he failed to take at least 10 wickets. 

Gujarat Titans made it to the Qualifier in 2025 largely on the back of its batting trio of Shubman Gill, B. Sai Sudharsan, and Jos Buttler, but with all three batters struggling for form in different ways, it will need its gun spinner Rashid to step up again to take the pressure off. 

Published on Mar 25, 2026