The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 Mega Auction is scheduled to be held on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This year’s auction marks the second year in a row that the event will be held overseas, following the 2024 auction in Dubai.
It may be mentioned that the timing of the auction coincides with the third and fourth day of the first Test between India and Australia in Perth.
Unlike the regular player auction that takes place annually, the Mega Auction is a spectacular event that takes place every three years, spread over two days instead of the usual one. The ten IPL franchises strategize their squads for the upcoming three seasons from 2025 to 2027.
A total of 1,574 players have registered for the auction, including 1,165 Indian players and 409 foreign talents, the BCCI said. This diverse pool of players includes participants from various countries, including Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Scotland, the USA and the UAE, although all member states except Pakistan are represented.
The auction will take place at the Abdi Al Johar Arena, also known as the Benchmark Arena, and franchises will have the opportunity to fill a total of 204 available slots in their squad, with each team allowed to build a roster of up to 25 players. .
On October 31, the teams finalized their player retention decisions, with a total of 46 players retained across all ten franchises. The highest retention was made by Sunrisers Hyderabad, who kept wicketkeeper-batsman Henrik Klaassen for Rs 23 crore.
Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Virat Kohli and Lucknow Supergiants’ Nicholas Pooran have been retained for Rs 21 crore each. Mumbai Indians notably retained their key Indian players including Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, and Tilak Verma for a total of Rs 75 crore.
Each franchisee has a total auction purse of INR 120 crores. However, after retention, Punjab Kings boast the largest outstanding budget of Rs 110.5 crore, retaining only two uncapped players, Shashank Singh and Prabhasimran Singh for a total of Rs 9.5 crore. In contrast, Rajasthan Royals held the auction with the smallest purse of Rs 41 crore after retaining the maximum six players. The budget of Kolkata Knight Riders is Rs 51 crore.
For the mega auction, IPL teams are allowed to field six players, including a maximum of five capped players and two uncapped players. Teams can choose to directly retain players during the auction or use Right-to-Match (RTM) options. The RTM method allows a franchise to buy back a player by matching the highest bid made by another franchise after the initial bidding process has concluded.
Punjab Kings have only retained two players, with a maximum of four RTM options available. Royal Challengers Bangalore, with three retained players, will have three RTM options, while Delhi Capitals, who have retained four players, will have two. Five franchises—Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Titans, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Lucknow Super Giants—retained five players each and only one RTM option.
Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders, who have retained six players, will not have any RTM option available during the auction.
