Indian Premier League’s annual money-spinning gala – the player auction – is mostly about following the price tags. File

For the franchises, it’s about struggling to come up with the most suitable combination in quest of the glittering trophy.

But for a majority of the fans, the Indian Premier League’s annual money-spinning gala – the player auction – is mostly about following the price tags.

While the debate over the most balanced squad will continue till the IPL 2025 starts next year, the anticipation of the auction being the grandest in terms of price tags came true over the two days at the Abadi Al Johar Arena.

It wasn’t only about Rishabh Pant (₹27 crore) and Shreyas Iyer (₹26.75 crore) fetching the two highest bids ever but even the number of successful ₹10 crore-plus bids have nearly doubled from the last auction.

In Jeddah, a whopping 21 players fetched a price equal to or higher than ₹10 crore. During the last big auction in 2022 in Bengaluru, the number was 11.

The fact that the auction purse went up from ₹90 crore to ₹120 crore from 2022 to 2025 played a role. But the bids going through the roof also signified that the demands made by certain cricketers before entering the auction were not unjust.

It is understood that the player pool became the most high-profile this time around due to certain franchises feeling a few players were demanding an amount that was way above their market price. But once the players threw their hat into the auction ring, the values just soared higher than anticipated.

“The purse overall, when you include the match fees that have come in, has gone up by over 33 per cent. That’s a massive jump in the overall salaries to players across the board, so it’s amazing for Indian cricket,” said Jake Lush McCrum, the Rajasthan Royals chief executive.

Huge potential

“It’s amazing for the future generations seeing this potential and, of course, the price is gonna rise when the overall purses rise. I don’t think there is a surprise in terms of the overall growth in high-value players.

“Whether we were expecting a 25 crore-plus player, it was significant, but you understand when it’s a captain as well and such an experienced Indian player, you get what franchises are willing to spend that much because of the scarcity.”

Having said all that, a player’s worth doesn’t necessarily reflect his value at the auction table. It’s time for the fans to turn their attention towards analysing the squads rather than only focus on price tags!

General View during the the Indian Premier League Auction held at the ABADI AL JOHAR ARENA, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The pacers’ pack earned the big bucks on the second and final day of the Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction as the franchises struggled to shape up their squads for the 2025 edition.

Of the 110 players who were sold on Monday for a combined total of ₹175.20 crore at the Al Johar Abadi Arena, one-fourth of the money was splurged on seven pacers who were called in the fourth set.

Also Read: IPL auction 2025 Day 2 LIVE Highlights

The top buy

Veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar (₹10.75 crore) earned the biggest pay cheque of the day from Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Once Mumbai Indians lost out on Bhuvneshwar, it broke the bank for Deepak Chahar (₹9.25 crore) and Lucknow Super Giants went big on Akash Deep (₹8 crore).

Punjab Kings chased Mukesh Kumar and even escalated the bid from ₹6.50 crore to ₹8 crore once Delhi Capitals employed the Right to Match (RTM) option but DC matched the bid. The RTM resulted in R. Sai Kishore, the Tamil Nadu all-rounder, going back to Gujarat Titans for ₹2 crore. Punjab Kings escalated the bid from ₹90 lakh to ₹2 crore which was matched by Titans.

Chennai Super Kings had a relatively quiet beginning, having managed to welcome all-rounder Sam Curran (₹2.40 crore) back into its stable. Later in the day, CSK went big on the Indian pace duo of Anshul Kamboj (₹3.40 crore) and Tamil Nadu’s Gurjapneet Kaur (₹2.20 crore) to boost its pace battery. The franchise signed off with a near-perfect auction, filling its maximum allotted quota of 25 players with only ₹5 lakh remaining in its purse.

CSK signed seven overseas players, one less than the maximum allowed.

In fact, only four teams — Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru — signed eight overseas cricketers.

As expected, Punjab Kings – who came into the auction with a whopping purse of ₹110.50 crore – spent the maximum amount over the two days. The Ricky Ponting-coached PBKS spent ₹110.15 crore.

Sunrisers Hyderabad appeared to have been struggling to go big on players with a tight purse at the start of the day but still managed to add strong domestic back-ups.

Surprisingly, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw remained unsold as all the franchises turned their back on the trio. Sarfaraz Khan too remained unsold for the second auction in succession. Sarfaraz’s younger brother, Musheer, though, was picked at base price by Punjab Kings.

Bihar’s 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi witnessed a bidding war for him before Rajasthan Royals bagged him for ₹1.1 crore. He became IPL’s youngest signing.