Year-ender: How the historic IPL 2025 mega auction panned out
What's the story
The 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, saw all 10 franchises battle it out. Rishabh Pant, who bagged a ₹27 crore contract with Lucknow Super Giants became IPL's most expensive player. He surpassed Shreyas Iyer, who was earlier picked up by Punjab Kings for ₹26.75 crore. Notably, over ₹600 crore were spent over two days at the auction.
Highlights
Teams spent ₹639.15 crore (combined)
The IPL 2025 auction saw a whopping ₹639.15 crore being spent, breaking the previous record of ₹551.70 crore from the 2022 edition. Punjab Kings, who had the biggest purse of ₹110.50 crore, spent nearly all of it at ₹110.15 crore. Meanwhile, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru shelled out ₹82.25 crore to strengthen their squad for the upcoming three seasons.
Other teams
Amounts spent by other eight teams
The other eight franchises also shelled out huge amounts to bolster their squads. Chennai Super Kings spent ₹54.95 crore, Mumbai Indians ₹44.80 crore, Kolkata Knight Riders ₹50.95 crore, Rajasthan Royals ₹40.70 crore, and Sunrisers Hyderabad 44.80. Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat Titans had similar spends of ₹68.90 crore and ₹68.85 crore, respectively, while Delhi Capitals spent a whopping ₹72.80 crore to complete their roster.
Expensive players
A look at most expensive players
Several key players dominated the auction - Pant, Shreyas, Venkatesh Iyer, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jos Buttler, KL Rahul, Jofra Archer, Trent Boult, and Josh Hazlewood. Teams splurged ₹181 crore to buy these high-profile cricketers. Punjab Kings made headlines by buying Shreyas and using their RTM option to buy back Arshdeep after a fierce bidding war started by CSK.
Milestones
Here are the notable milestones
As per ESPNcricinfo, Mitchell Starc became only the second player after Pat Cummins to have total ₹50-plus crore at IPL auctions (combined). Glenn Maxwell extended his sold price across six auctions to ₹49.5 crore. Jaydev Unadkat was sold for the 13th time at an IPL auction, the most for a player. Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 13, became the youngest player ever to earn an IPL contract.
Information
Youngest player to be sold in IPL auction
In a historic moment, 13-year-old cricket prodigy Vaibhav Suryavanshi from Bihar became the youngest player ever to be sold in an IPL auction. After a fierce contest with Delhi Capitals, Suryavanshi was bagged by Rajasthan Royals for ₹1.10 crore.
Unsold players
Marquee players who went unsold
Several marquee players went unsold at the auction. The list features big names such as David Warner and Kane Williamson, who have led in the IPL. Other notable players who couldn't attract a bid - James Anderson, Steven Smith, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Daryl Mitchell, Mustafizur Rahman, Prithvi Shaw, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Piyush Chawla, and Mayank Agarwal.