India’s pace spearhead Ishant Sharma went shockingly unsold at the Indian Premier League 2017 player auction that saw a few rookies fetching some big bucks. (IPL: 5 stars who were snubbed at the auction)Ishant, who had the base price of Rs 2 crore, was twice snubbed by the franchises on the auction. (How the teams stack up after the auction)CLICK TO WATCH FULL VIDEOIshant is a key part of India’s Test squad but has not featured in the limited-overs sides for a over one year now. He last appeared in Twenty20 internationals against Australia in October 2013.It is believed that Ishant’s high base price was the reason for finding no buyers at the auction which saw teams gunning for young turks and in-form players. (Uncapped Indian players trump India stars at auction)The 28-year-old Test specialist has played for now-defunct Deccan Chargers, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune Supergiants over the years. (Stokes hits jackpot in historic Indian Premier League player bid)He was last year picked to play for IPL debutants Pune Supergiants, finishing with three wickets in four matches at a poor average of 49.33 and a high economy of 9.86. (Tymal Mills happy to be on the same side with Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers)As a result Ishant was among the 11 players who were offloaded by RPS after the team finished seventh in the eight-team tournament. (Happy for myself and Rashid Khan, says Mohammad Nabi after SRH bag Afghan players)”We needed to have a fitter team and that’s why we dropped 11 players. Many of whom are physically and completely unfit and past their prime,” RPS owner Sanjiv Goenka told India Today the day MS Dhoni was sacked as captain.advertisementNO BUYERS FOR IRFAN PATHANVeteran all-rounder Irfan Pathan, who had a base price of Rs 50 lakh, too failed to grab a deal and remained unsold.Irfan too played for RPS last season. In four matches that he played, the Baroda left-arm medium pacer went wicketless and his economy touched 7.62.Irfan has not played for India since August 2012 and not considered express pacer or a big hitter in Indian cricket fraternity.He even failed to show off his skills with the bat last seaon. In three innings, the left-handed batsman hit just 11 runs.Both Ishant and Irfan were once India’s most sought after players but the saying ‘perform or perish’ fits best in this case.