The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a tournament that goes by the headline “Where talent meets opportunities”. Without a doubt, the league has produced some of the greatest talents, whose idea was not there for world cricket. The likes of Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, and a few others are big stars today because of how their career started with their IPL teams.
Unfortunately, there are instances where some of the players did not get a chance to play for their team despite being highly talented. The squads in the IPL are such that the players have to suffer the wrath of an extremely skilled talent pool and requirements in the team.
Such players are unlucky to not get to play a match for their team despite being picked multiple times at the auction table given their potential, but sadly, it is still not enough to breakthrough into the Playing XI. In this article, CricTracker is discussing three such names who never played a single IPL match in their career and the list includes players from teams like Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings.
Players who never played IPL despite being picked many times
1. Kyle Mills (Kings XI Punjab in 2008; Mumbai Indians in 2009)
Kyle Mills was one of the best pacers in the world in the late 2000s, when he played for New Zealand. The right-arm pacer was able to swing the ball early in the innings and could be handy in the middle overs and the death overs. Not to forget, he could bat a bit lower down the order, which could help the team with the balance.
The right-arm pacer was picked for the first time in the IPL auctions before the 2008 season by Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings). Unfortunately, due to better overseas players in the team, and restrictions to field only four foreigners, he did not get to play a game. Later, Mills was picked by the Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2009. Due to the same reason, he did not get to play a single game in the second season as well. He did not find a team later.
2. Nishant Sindhu (Chennai Super Kings in 2024 and Gujarat Titans in 2025)
Nishant Sindhu was a part of the Indian team that won the Under-19 World Cup in 2023. As a result, he was picked in the IPL Auctions in the 2023, 2024, and 2025 seasons. The star player was picked for the first time in auctions by CSK in 2023. He stayed with them in the 2024 season, before getting released ahead of the eighteenth season.
Due to CSK’s policy of backing a lot of players, Sindhu stayed in the squad, learning stuff from other players and the personnel in the management. However, he did not get to play a game. In the IPL 2025 Mega Auctions, Sindhu was picked by the Gujarat Titans. Unfortunately, he did not get to play a game and is yet to make his debut in the most lucrative T20 league globally.
3. Pavan Deshpande (Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2018 and 2020)
Pavan Deshpande was one of the talented players in the late 2010s and the 2020s in domestic cricket. Someone who could play lower down the order and be handy with the ball with spin bowling was a commodity not a lot of teams could afford easily. RCB bought him for the first time in the Mega Auction before the IPL 2018.
Deshpande did not get a chance to play for the Bengaluru-based franchise in the IPL 2018. He was picked again in the IPL 2020 Auctions. Unfortunately, despite being highly talented, the spin-bowling All-rounder did not get to play a game. He continued to perform for Karnataka despite not getting a chance in RCB. He remains one of the highly talented players to never play the IPL.
