Rishabh Pant has become the most expensive player in IPL history after he was sold to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for INR 27 crore (USD 3.21 million approx.) on the first day of the mega auction in Jeddah. He surpassed the mark set by Punjab Kings (PBKS), who had bid INR 26.75 crore (USD 3.18 million approx.) to buy Shreyas Iyer a few minutes earlier.

Both LSG and PBKS were in need of new captains this season and Pant and Shreyas will likely fill those roles for them. Both players surpassed the record INR 24.75 crore bid that Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had made for Mitchell Starc at the IPL 2024 auction.

LSG and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) began the bidding for Pant, with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) joining the race once RCB dropped out. SRH and LSG took the bid to INR 20.75 crore, at which point SRH dropped out and Pant was sold to LSG. The auctioneer then asked Delhi Capitals (DC) if they wanted to use a right-to-match (RTM) option to buy back Pant, and DC said yes. According to the new RTM rules at this auction, the team that won the bidding was given another opportunity to raise their bid, which LSG did from INR 20.75 crore to INR 27 crore. DC said they did not want to match that bid, which meant Pant was sold to LSG for a record price.

“No matter how much you plan, things don’t always work out like that,” Shashwat Goenka, the LSG owner, said. “This [getting Pant for 27 crore] was very well to our plan. It wasn’t really a magic number, we just wanted a number so that the RTM doesn’t get exercised.”

Shreyas was the third player up for sale from the first set of marquee players and KKR opened the bidding in an attempt to buy back their title-winning captain. However, they dropped out of the bidding at INR 10 crore, after which DC and PBKS were competing for Shreyas, with both teams needing captains. PBKS, who came in with the largest purse of INR 110.5 crore, won the bid at INR 26.75 crore.

Ricky Ponting, the new PBKS coach, said he was delighted to work with Shreyas again, after their time together at DC. “I haven’t spoken to him yet, I tried to call him before the auction but he didn’t pick up,” he said when asked if Shreyas would be the new PBKS captain. “He’s been a successful captain in IPL before, I worked with him for 3-4 years in Delhi and he was the championship winner last season. I’m delighted to work with him again, if he can do that for us in the IPL I’ll be pretty happy.”

KL Rahul was the third major Indian batter in the marquee sets and while KKR, RCB and CSK all bid for him, he was eventually sold to DC for INR 14 crore ($1.67 million approx.) and could become their captain. Rahul’s previous franchise LSG did not use the RTM option on him.

Venkatesh Iyer sold for INR 23.75 crore

Perhaps the biggest surprise on day one, however, was the fierce bidding for allrounder Venkatesh Iyer from KKR and RCB. He was eventually sold for a whopping INR 23.75 ($2.83 million approx.) crore to his former franchise KKR, whose most expensive retained player was Rinku Singh at INR 13 crore, followed by Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy at INR 12 crore each.

New homes for Buttler, Starc and Rabada

Rajasthan Royals (RR) tried to buy back Jos Buttler but were unsuccessful. After competition from PBKS and LSG, GT were able to buy Buttler for INR 15.75 crore (US$ 1.88 million), to partner Shubman Gill at the top of their order and keep wicket.

“Very happy to have Jos Buttler in our side. He can bat anywhere, he can keep as well, he can help Shubman also,” Parthiv Patel, GT’s assistant coach, said. “We wanted to buy our No. 1 bowler and No. 1 batter from the marquee set and we have both.”

GT began the auction with the third-largest purse of INR 73 crore and managed to buy a second player – South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada – from the first marquee set, staving off competition from RCB and MI to buy him for INR 10.75 crore ($1.28 million approx.). They also picked up Mohammed Siraj from the second set of marquee players for INR 12.25 crore ($1.46 million approx.).

KKR and MI began the bidding for Starc, with RCB also showing interest before he was eventually bought by DC for INR 11.75 crore ($1.40 million approx.), which is a massive pay cut from his erstwhile record price of INR 24.75 crore last year ($2.98 million approx. at the time).

“Pretty elated with the buys. Both KL and Starc are world-class players. In fact, they’re battling each other right now in India versus Australia, so it’s pretty interesting,” DC head coach Hemang Badani said. “Starc is a match-winner, he’s a wicket-taker, and [we] couldn’t be happier. And with KL Rahul, again, somebody who we believe is a bankable player, will give you runs each season. For me, at the moment, this is the best buy of the auction. But having said this, there’s work to do.”

Big pay-day for Chahal

One of the biggest surprises at the IPL 2022 mega auction was Yuzvendra Chahal getting sold for only INR 6.50 crore, to RR. This time, however, Chahal had a lot more interest, with GT, CSK, LSG, RCB and SRH trying to buy him. PBKS outbid them all, though, to buy Chahal for INR 18 crore, the joint-third most expensive player at the auction along with Arshdeep Singh.

“I was quite nervous and anxious because this amount is what I got in the last three seasons combined. I think I deserve this price, and I am very excited,” Chahal told Jio Cinema. “I had a hunch and even my friends told me that I’d go to Punjab, but I had no idea it would be for such a high price. I had INR 12-13 crore in mind, but I do deserve this. Wherever you go, you always have the opportunity to learn and grow, and I’ll make sure to work hard and deliver my best.”

CSK get busy; quiet start for MI and RR

There were a total of 12 players in the first two marquee sets, of which PBKS and GT bought three each; DC and LSG bought two each; and RCB and SRH bought one. CSK, MI, KKR and RR did not manage to buy a single player from the marquee sets.

CSK, however, got extremely busy after that, picking up Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Rachin Ravindra and R Ashwin for a total of INR 23.40 crore. It was a big-money homecoming for Ashwin; CSK’s winning bid of INR 9.75 crore ($1.16 million approx.) is the highest he has ever received at an IPL auction. He last played for CSK in IPL 2015.

After the first 26 players sold, however, MI and RR were the only two teams not to buy a single player. Of these players, MI bid only for Starc and Rabada.

Arshdeep the sole RTM buy from marquee sets

While there were several opportunities for teams to use their RTM options to buy back their former players in the marquee sets, PBKS were the only team to successfully do so when they bought back Arshdeep. They exercised their RTM option after SRH raised their final bid for Arshdeep from INR 15.75 crore to INR 18 crore. Later on, DC bought back Jake Fraser-McGurk and CSK got back Rachin Ravindra via the RTM route.

Warner, Bairstow unsold

Devdutt Padikkal, from the first set of batters, was the first player to get no bids at the IPL 2025 mega auction. The bigger surprise, however, was when David Warner, one of the IPL’s most prolific batters, got no bids either in the first round of the auction. He could come back in the accelerated round on day two of the auction. The same was the case for Jonny Bairstow, who came up in the set of wicketkeepers and also went unsold.

More to follow …


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