IPL 2025 mega auction: Top seven talking points of bidding event-OxBig News Network

The Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) mega auction was successfully held on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as all ten franchises completed their squads for the upcoming blockbuster season. A total of 577 players went under the hammer out of which 182 were bought by the ten teams using whopping INR 639.15 crore, the highest ever expenditure in the history of the tournament.

The mega auction which was held after a gap of two and a half years witnessed several big names of the cricketing world being sold for massive prices while several notable names unfortunately failed to find any buyers. As the mega auction of the IPL 2025 comes to an end, here are the five talking points from the bidding event:

IPL 2025 Auction Day 2 Highlights

1. Indian Players emerge as top buyers

Indian players Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer were sold for massive prices as all ten franchises were eager to have them on their roster. Pant became the most expensive player in the history of IPL auction being sold for INR 27 crore to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) while Shreyas Iyer was sold for 26.75 crore to Punjab Kings. Venkatesh Iyer was sold for 23.75 crore to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

2. Bowlers get their due as Arshdeep and Chahal bag huge sums

The IPL 2025 mega auction made sure that there wasn’t much pay disparity between the batters and the bowlers as several magicians with the ball were seen securing a much-desrved high price. India’s T20 World Cup 2024 hero Arshdeep Singh fetched Rs 18 crore as he got sold to Punjab Kings who also bought IPL’s highest wicket taker Yuzvendra Chahal for the Rs 18 crore as well. Jofra Archer (Rs 12.50 crore, Rajasthan Royals), Josh Hazlewood (Rs 12.50 crore, RCB), Mohammed Siraj (Rs 12.25 crore, Gujarat Titans) also got sold for big amount.

3. Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Will Jacks fiasco

In a surprising move, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) didn’t exercise their Right to Match (RTM) card for their star all rounder Will Jacks who made a name for himself with his breathtaking batting in the 2024 season. However, when it came to the auction, RCB let go of their player as Mumbai Indians secured his services for INR 5.25 crore. Following the completion of the bidding, Mumbai Indians owner Akash Ambani went to RCB’s auction table to shake hands with their management which became a talking point of the auction.

4. Legends go unsold

The mega auction also witnessed several big names of the tournament go unsold as Piyush Chawla, David Warner, Kane Williamson, Umesh Yadav and Steve Smith failed to find any buyers. As a result, players who made valuable contributions for a number of years for different teams returned empty handed from the event.

5. Promising stars go unsold

Apart from big names, several top cricketers of the cricketing fraternity also failed to find any buyers as Adil Rashid, Keshav Maharaj, Prithvi Shaw, Shardul Thakur, Sarfaraz Khan, Finn Allen, Kyle Mayers and Dewald Brevis had a disappointing outcome in the bidding event.

6. Contrasting fate of the youngest Player and the Oldest player

13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest player to be sold in the history of IPL auction as he was sold for a whopping Rs 1.10 crore to Rajasthan Royals after an intense bidding war with Delhi Capitals (DC). On the other hand, legendary England seamer, James Anderson, failed to find any buyers. The 42-year-old who had registered for the first time in the bidding event was the oldest player in the auction.

7. Uncapped Players get good deals

Rasikh Salam Dar stole the limelight in the uncapped players set as he got sold for a whopping INR 6 crore to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Naman Dhir emerged as the second most expensive player among uncapped being bought for a whopping INR 5.25 crore by Mumbai Indians (MI) while Abdul Samad also managed to attract a massive bid from Lucknow Super Giants of INR 4.20 crore. Nehal Wadhera also managed to get a price of INR 4.20 crore being sold to Punjab Kings.