(ESPN Cricinfo) – The IPL 2025 mega auction will be held on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is being held overseas for the second successive year – 2024 was in Dubai – and will clash with the third and fourth days of the first Test between India and Australia in Perth.
Unlike regular auctions, the mega auction that takes place every three years is spread over two days instead of just one, and it is one of the most-followed events in cricket as the ten IPL franchises build their squads for the next three years (2025-27).
A total of 1574 players (1165 Indian and 409 overseas) had registered for the auction, which will be held at the Abady Al Johar Arena (also known as Benchmark Arena) by the deadline of November 4, the BCCI said. They range from countries like Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Scotland, the USA, and the UAE, apart from the Full Member nations excluding Pakistan. Each franchise can build a squad of up to 25 players, which means that there are 204 slots available at the auction after the retention.
On October 31, the deadline for teams to finalise which of their players they were keeping from their 2024 squads, a total of 46 players were retained across the ten franchises. Sunrisers Hyderabad wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen was the most expensive retention at INR 23 crore, while Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) and Nicholas Pooran (Lucknow Super Giants) were joint second at INR 21 crore. But perhaps the highlight of retention day was Mumbai Indians keeping all their big Indian players – Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, and Tilak Varma – for a total of INR 75 crore.
Each team has a total purse of INR 120 crore to build their squads, but following the retention, Punjab Kings have the biggest purse remaining (INR 110.5 crore) to spend at the mega auction, having retained just two uncapped players – Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh – for a total of INR 9.5 crore. Rajasthan Royals have the smallest purse of INR 41 crore after they, along with Kolkata Knight Riders, retained the maximum of six players. KKR will have INR 51 crore to spend at the auction.
The IPL has allowed teams to retain up to six players this time – of which a maximum of five can be capped and a maximum of two can be uncapped. The six players can either be retained outright ahead of the auction or can be bought back using Right-to-Match (RTM) options at the auction, or a combination of both.
If a player has been bought by another franchise at the mega auction, the franchise that he was part of in IPL 2024 can step in at the end of the bidding process and buy back their player using the RTM option by matching the highest bid. After that, the franchise that made the winning bid will be given another opportunity to raise the bid to whatever amount they wish. In that case, the player’s previous team will have to match the increased bid to buy back their player.
Having retained just two players, PBKS have the most RTM options (four) at the auction. RCB, who retained three players, have three, while Delhi Capitals, who retained four players, have two. Five teams – MI, Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Titans, SRH, and LSG – retained five players each and have just one RTM option at the auction, while RR and KKR have no RTM options.
There is, of course, no limit on the number of players a franchise can buy back if they place the highest bids for them during regular bidding at the auction.