'We don't buy superstars, we make them': Rajasthan Royals coach makes bold remark after eliminating from IPL 2025 playoffs race

Rajasthan Royals (RR), the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) champion, have produced numerous stars for Indian cricket over the years. Players like Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and many more have been stars not only for the Rajasthan team, but these cricketers also showcased their stellar performances when given the chance to play for the Indian side. In the current IPL season, RR struggled since the very beginning, and after the last game on Thursday against Mumbai Indians (MI), the Men in Pink were officially eliminated from the Playoffs race.

'We make superstars': RR coach

After losing to the Mumbai Indians and being eliminated from the IPL 2025 Playoffs race, RR fielding coach Dishant Yagnik opened up about the team's ideology in the post-match press conference. ''Whenever a new player has entered our side over the years, they weren't stars already. They became stars at our franchise. The current bunch, we're confident that they will become stars, we'll make them stars. We don't buy superstars, we make superstars, that's our tagline,'' he said.

Explaining with examples, he further said, ''For example, take Vaibhav Suryavanshi, everyone was happy and emotional for him the way he batted. So, in the coming years, guys like him will become stars. The time has come for us to look beyond such things (regretting not retaining players like Buttler). When we don't have them, we have to forget and move on. Now we have Vaibhav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Sanju Samson as our captain. We'll go ahead with this side, and we'll prove our winning ability with this side.''

RR vs MI match in Jaipur

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and decided to field first against the five-time champions, Mumbai Indians. Batting first in Jaipur, MI posted 217 runs on board in 20 overs, losing just two wickets in their innings. MI openers Ryan Rickleton and Rohit Sharma smashed half-centuries against RR, setting up a perfect base for their innings.

 

 

 

 

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Chasing the mammoth total, the Rajasthan Royals struggled from the beginning, kept losing wickets in quick succession, and failed to build any solid partnerships. In the end, RR lost the contest by 100 runs, also being eliminated from the IPL 2025.

Ryan Rickleton was declared as the Player of the Match for his blistering 61 of just 38 balls.