Pant, Rahul and Iyer to push the bar higher at IPL auction in Jeddah

One of the gala events of the cricketing world — the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction — will take centre stage in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

With months of off-field strategy and rigorous scouting, it will all come down to pure business as 10 franchises look to get the best possible squads for the 2025 season and beyond.

The two-day auction will be on Sunday and Monday from 3.30 pm (2pm UAE time) onwards and will be broadcast live by Star Sports. The live streaming will be available on the Jio Cinema app and website.

In all, 577 players including 367 Indians and 210 overseas will be testing their fate to fill the maximum of 204 slots (70 overseas) available for the upcoming season. Among Indian players, 48 are capped and the remaining are uncapped professionals while 197 capped overseas and 12 uncapped foreign players will be up for grabs. This year, three players from Associate nations will also test their luck.

The auction proceedings will kick off with the first set of marquee players featuring the likes of Indian stars Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer — all three of them led their respective teams last season but were not retained by their respective franchises — with a base price of Rs 2 crore. It is anticipated that Pant could be one of the most expensive players in the tournament’s history with Delhi Capitals having the advantage of using the right-to-match card (RTM).

The other set of marquee players includes Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj. At the same time, Mitchell Starc, who received the highest-ever bid at an IPL auction, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, David Miller, and Kagiso Rabada are the five overseas players across two sets of marquee lists.

A total of 82 players (after the addition of Jofra Archer) have marked themselves under the top price bracket of Rs 2 crore and will hope to make the headline in the two-day mega event. Among others, 27 players are in the Rs 1.5 crore, 18 in Rs 1.25 crore, 23 in Rs 1 crore, 92 in Rs 75 lakh, eight in Rs 50 lakh, five in Rs 40 lakh and 320 are with Rs 30 lakh price tag.

After bringing down the curtain to his glorious red-ball career nearly three weeks before turning 42, England veteran pacer James Anderson took everyone by surprise as he registered himself at a base price of Rs 1.25 crore in search of his first-ever IPL franchise.

In contrast, Bihar’s 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi will head into the auction as the youngest player for this edition. The southpaw has played five first-class matches for his state and two Youth Test matches for India Under-19s, scoring a century against Australia Under-19s last month.

Among the uncapped Indian players, all eyes will be on Ashutosh Sharma, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Vaibhav Arora and Mahipal Lomror. Ashutosh and Mahipal impressed with their attacking stroke-making for Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru last year with the former having the advantage of bowling left-arm spin.

Delhi batter Angkrish has a solid chance to get a contract for the second consecutive season after showing a glimpse of his talent for title-winner Kolkata Knight Riders. At just 19, the top-order batter has the potential to further nurture his skills by sharing a dressing room with international stars and becoming a vital member of the franchise.

Angkrish’s former KKR teammate Vaibhav Arora is another such candidate to fly high in the auction after a stellar season including 11 wickets in 10 matches. He proved himself as a reliable pace-bowling option in the powerplay by hitting the hard lengths with the new ball.

Punjab Kings will have the maximum purse of Rs 110.5 crore to fill 23 spots in their squad after another disastrous season for the franchise. Chennai Super Kings (Rs 55 crore), Gujarat Titans (Rs 69 crore), Lucknow Super Giants (Rs 69 crore), Mumbai Indians (Rs 45 crore) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (Rs 45 crore) will each have a maximum of 20 spots available to complete their squads.

Agencies