IPL Auction 2025: Indians finally earn bigger paychecks as auction records tumble in Jeddah

The mega auction for the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) concluded on Monday and it turned out to be quite the spectacle – one that’s vastly different from the cricketing thrill that’s in store from March to May. The BCCI took the T20 extravaganza that is the IPL auction to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the first time ever, resulting in the auction taking place on foreign soil, and in the Middle East to be more specific, for the second year in a row.

That, however, would become a mere footnote following the madness that unfolded at the Abadi Al Johar Arena over Sunday and Monday, with all-time records being broken, cash being splurged on players like never before, and the league turning a kid barely into his teens into an overnight crorepati.

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With the fifth mega auction in the history of the world’s biggest tournament finally coming to an end, we take a look at some of the key takeaways from the auction:

Captains in great demand as Indians finally get the bigger paycheck

Plenty of Indian stars would have been grumbling about the fact that their status as icons of the game did not necessarily reflect on their paychecks in the IPL, with overseas cricketers – especially those from Australia and England and occasionally from South Africa – attracting some of the biggest bids over the years. Before the 2025 auction, Australia’s Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were the only players in the 20-crore club, and the top five comprised either Australian or English players.

The BCCI decided to change that ahead of the mega auction by introducing a new rule that capped salaries of foreign players to that of the highest retention slab or the highest bid fetched by an Indian in the previous auction.

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That rule, however, did not need implementation in Jeddah as Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer ended up smashing all-time records to become the most expensive players in the league’s history. Iyer first broke the previous record of Rs 24.75 crore at which Starc had been acquired by his former franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The Mumbaikar became the first player to breach the 25-crore barrier in the league’s history as Punjab Kings secured him for Rs 26.75 crore following an intense bidding war with Delhi Capitals.

Iyer’s reign as the most expensive player in the league’s history, however, wouldn’t last an hour as Pant would soon overtake him by a mere 25 lakh rupees. Lucknow Super Giants had initially acquired him at Rs 20.75 crore following an intense round of bidding with Sunrisers Hyderabad and would stretch it to Rs 27 crore in their final bid after DC showed interest in using their RTM card for him.

The two senior Indian cricketers were part of the very first set of players – ‘Marquee’ Set 1 who went under the hammer on Sunday, as the auction kicked off in remarkable style. Meanwhile, Jos Buttler, who was in the same set as Pant and Iyer, emerged as the top overseas buy as he was bought by Gujarat Titans for Rs 15.75 crore.

It was also worth noting that the two most expensive buys from the auction had captained their previous franchises. With sides such as DC and LSG having already hinted in advance about releasing their captains into the auction pool, the spotlight was always on Pant and ex-LSG skipper KL Rahul. Iyer’s release from KKR began to gather steam a few days before the Retention Deadline and he too was expected to end up among the top buys.

Rahul, though, would go to DC for a relatively low sum of Rs 14 crore, which many an expert including former India batter Robin Uthappa had described as a steal. The wicketkeeper-batter’s questionable strike rate despite being a consistent run machine might have had something to do with that.

Recency matters as much as legacy

Recent performances also mattered as much as overall records when it came to securing major bids. While Pant and Iyer finished at the top, Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 23.75 crore to KKR), Arshdeep Singh (Rs 18 crore to PBKS via RTM) and Yuzvendra Chahal (Rs 18 crore to PBKS) occupied the next three slots in the list of most expensive players from the auction.

Venkatesh was one of the standout performers in KKR’s victorious campaign earlier this year, and he would have been as much part of the core group as the rest of the players retained ahead of the auction, including Rinku Singh. Kolkata thus, would have made it a priority to buy him back and nearly surpassed the sum they had paid for Starc last year in the process.

Arshdeep has been having a terrific year – being one of the standout performers in India’s T20 World Cup as well as in the T20I series in South Africa that took place just before the auction. Chahal, meanwhile, has been a wicket-taking machine over the years, and being the only bowler with more than 200 wickets who has finished among the top-10 wicket-takers in each of the last six seasons, he was bound to be treated as hot property.

Indian pacers rule the roost on Day 2

While the opening day of the auction was headlined by Pant and Iyer, Day 2 belonged primarily to Indian pacers – especially those who had fallen off the national selection radar in recent years, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar emerging as the top buys.

Bhuvneshwar was the only player to fetch a bid in excess of Rs 10 crore, with several franchises have exhausted most of their purse on the opening day, as his decade-long journey with the Sunrisers Hyderabad finally came to an end with RCB acquiring him for Rs 10.75 crore. It was with the Royal Challengers that ‘Bhuvi’ had begun his IPL journey in 2009 and represented them in the following year as well before moving to the now-defunct Pune Warriors India.

Chahar, meanwhile, went from one successful franchise to another as he was acquired by Mumbai Indians for a sum of Rs 9.75 crore. The 32-year-old pacer had been an integral member of the CSK attack not too long ago and will be expected to lead the charge in the powerplay with pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah perhaps focusing more on the death overs.

Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep too were rewarded with 8-crore contracts, the former getting retained by the Capitals via RTM and the latter going to LSG. Another ex-CSK pacer Tushar Deshpande ended up bagging Rs 6.5 crore as he went to Rajasthan Royals.

A 13-year-old becomes a crorepati

One of the memorable moments in IPL history occurred in the final stretch of bidding on the second day when 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi was acquired by RR for Rs 1.1 crore – becoming the youngest player in the league’s history in the process! Suryavanshi has made five First-Class appearances for Bihar and had recently scored a century in a U-19 Test against Australia, but few would have expected him to fetch a bid in an auction where icons such as David Warner and Jonny Bairstow went unsold.

𝗔 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 #TATAIPLAuction! 👏 👏

𝘿𝙊 𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝙈𝙄𝙎𝙎:

Here's how the 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi - the youngest ever player to be bought in the auction - joined #RR 👌 👌#TATAIPL | @rajasthanroyals pic.twitter.com/eme92pM7jy

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) November 25, 2024

At an age when most kids would be happy watching cartoons and playing games besides attending school and taking care of homework, Vaibhav would be rubbing with some of the very best and will be guided by none other than ‘The Wall’ Rahul Dravid and Sanju Samson.

And if he does get a game in the following year and walks out to bat, it will be a scene reminiscent of a young Sachin Tendulkar walking out to face Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, and Waqar Younis at the National Stadium in Karachi more than three decades ago. Except in this case, Vaibhav will be even younger.