IPL auction Day 1 talking points: Pant shatters record, Iyer tax and craze for pace

A total of 72 players were bought for Rs 467.95 crore on Day 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday, November 24. As expected, auction records tumbled as Rishabh Pant went on to become the most expensive player in the history of bidding. Shreyas Iyer, as expected, triggered bidding wars and Venkatesh Iyer was retained by defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders for a sensational sum, which stunned several pundits and fans.

Rishabh Pant was sold for Rs 27 crore after an intense bidding war involving several franchises. In a surprise move, Delhi Capitals used the Right To Match (RTM) card for the wicketkeeper-batter, whom they released on retention deadline day, at Rs 20.75 crore. Lucknow Super Giants, who released KL Rahul, did not hesitate one bit to raise the bid to a record-breaking amount. Owner Sanjeev Goenka was delighted after LSG won the bid for the wicketkeeper-batter.

IPL mega auction Day 1 Highlights | Full Coverage

Shreyas Iyer was in demand after having led the Knight Riders to the title in IPL 2024. Punjab Kings, who hit the reset button after retaining only two players, went for Rs 26.75 crore to the north of India. He will be reunited with Ricky Ponting for the first time since IPL 2021.

Both Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer were more expensive than Mitchell Starc, who had been the most expensive until last year after having sold for Rs 24.75 crore to KKR last year. The Australian pacer took a pay cut as he was sold for Rs 11.75 crore to the Delhi Capitals on Sunday.

Top uncapped players sold on Day 1

VENKATESH IYER PRICE JUSTIFIED?

Venkatesh Iyer’s sale was a bit inexplicable. Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders went into a bidding war and eventually, KKR bought back their all-rounder for Rs 23.75 crore.

It remains to be seen if KKR will appoint Venkatesh Iyer as their captain for IPL 2025. The all-rounder said he is interested in taking up the role, if offered.

KL Rahul, contrary to expectations, did not go for a massive price. Instead, Delhi Capitals got him at a steal price of Rs 14 crore.

Arshdeep Singh, one of the world’s best T20 bowlers going around, was sold for Rs 18 crore. Punjab Kings did not retain the left-arm pacer, but bought him back in the auction using the Right to Match card.

A total of four pacers featured in the top 10 most expensive buys on Day 1, highlighting the craze for pace.

Yuzvendra Chahal, IPL’s all-time leading wicket-taker, got his due as he was sold to Ricky Ponting-coached Punjab for Rs 18 crore, nearly three times more than the money he was paid by Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2022 auction.

Also Read: ‘I deserve Rs 18 crore’

Meanwhile, Jos Buttler became the most expensive overseas player on Day 1 of the auction. The former Rajasthan Royals star was sold to Gujarat Titans for Rs 15.75 crore.

TOP 10 BUYS – DAY 1

• 1. Rishabh Pant – Rs 27 crore to Lucknow
• 2. Shreyas Iyer – Rs 26.75 crore to Punjab
• 3. Venkatesh Iyer – Rs 23.75 crore to Kolkata
• 4. Arshdeep Singh – Rs 18 crore to Punjab
• 5. Yuzvendra Chahal – Rs 18 crore to Punjab
• 6. Jos Buttler – Rs 15.75 crore to Gujarat
• 7. KL Rahul – Rs 14 crore to Delhi
• 8. Trent Boult – Rs 12.50 crore to Mumbai
• 9. Jofra Archer – Rs 12.50 crore to Rajasthan
• 10. Josh Hazlewood – Rs 12.50 crore to Bengaluru

STEAL BUYS – DAY 1

• 1. KL Rahul – Rs 14 crore to Delhi
• 2. Devon Conway – Rs 6.25 crore to Chennai
• 3. Glenn Maxwell – Rs 4.25 crore to Punjab
• 4. Quinton de Kock – Rs 3.6 crore t Punjab

BIGGEST GAINERS ON DAY 1

• Jitesh Sharma: New Team – RCB, Sold Price – 11 Cr., Last Price – 20 Lac, Price Diff. (%) – 5400%, Last Team – PBKS
• Noor Ahmad: New Team – CSK, Sold Price – 10 Cr., Last Price – 30 Lac, Price Diff. (%) – 3233%, Last Team – GT
• Rasikh Dar: New Team – RCB, Sold Price – 6 Cr., Last Price – 20 Lac, Price Diff. (%) – 2900%, Last Team – DC
• Naman Dhir: New Team – MI, Sold Price – 5.25 Cr., Last Price – 20 Lac, Price Diff. (%) – 2525%, Last Team – MI
• Nehal Wadhera: New Team – PBKS, Sold Price – 4.2 Cr., Last Price – 20 Lac, Price Diff. (%) – 2000%, Last Team – MI

WHICH TEAMS IMPRESSED ON DAY 1?

• RCB were slammed for not going big in the marquee sets. However, they proved their naysayers wrong with some smart buys in the end.
• MI were the least active on Day 1, buying only four players. They spent more than a crore on only two players — Trent Boult and Naman Dhir. The 5-time champions, it seems, are planning big for Monday.
• PBKS came up with a strong show on Day 1 in Jeddah. Ricky Ponting’s side got some terrific steal deals, including that of Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis. They have one of the strongest cores.
• KKR spent a bit too much on Venkatesh Iyer, but they bounced back with some good buys, including that of Quinton de Kock and Angkrish Raghuvanshi.
• Gujarat were the most impressive. They did not overspend and have added some sensational players to an already strong core. They got some gun pacers in Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada and Prasidh Krishna on Day 1.
• CSK, as usual, added firepower to their core unit. They went big for Noor Ahmed and bought back the likes of R Ashwin, Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra.

HOW DO TEAMS LOOK AFTER DAY 1 OF AUCTION

PURSE REMAINING

1. Royal Challengers Bengaluru – Rs. 30.65 Cr.
2. Mumbai Indians – Rs. 26.10 Cr
3. Punjab Kings – Rs. 22.50 Cr
4. Gujarat Titans – Rs. 17.50 Cr
5. Rajasthan Royals – Rs. 17.35 Cr
6. Chennai Super Kings – Rs. 15.60 Cr
7. Lucknow Super Giants – Rs. 14.85 Cr
8. Delhi Capitals – Rs. 13.80 Cr
9. Kolkata Knight Riders – Rs. 10.05 Cr
10. Sunrisers Hyderabad – Rs. 5.15 Cr

Chennai Super Kings:

Retentions: Ruturaj Gaikwad (18), MS Dhoni (4), Ravindra Jadeja (18), Shivam Dube (12), Matheesha Pathirana (13).

• Noor Ahmad (Rs 10 crore)
• Ravichandran Ashwin (Rs 9.75 crore)
• Devon Conway (Rs 6.25 crore)
• Syed Khaleel Ahmed (Rs 4.8 crore)
• Rachin Ravindra (Rs 4 crore)
• Rahul Tripathi (Rs 3.4 crore)
• Vijay Shankar (Rs 1.2 crore)

Delhi Capitals:

Retentions: Axar Patel (16.5), Abhishek Porel (4), Tristan Stubbs (10), Kuldeep Yadav (13.5)

• KL Rahul (Rs 14 crore)
• Mitchell Starc (Rs 11.75 crore)
• T. Natarajan (Rs 10.75 crore)
• Jake Fraser-Mcgurk (Rs 9 crore)
• Harry Brook (Rs 6.25 crore)
• Ashutosh Sharma (Rs 3.8 crore)
• Mohit Sharma (Rs 2.2 crore)
• Sameer Rizvi (Rs 95 lakh)
• Karun Nair (Rs 50 lakh)

Gujarat Titans:

Retentions: Rashid Khan (18), Shubman Gill (16.5), Sai Sudharsan (8.5), Rahul Tewatia (4), Shahrukh Khan (4).

• Jos Buttler (Rs 15.75 crore)
• Mohammad Siraj (Rs 12.25 crore)
• Kagiso Rabada (Rs 10.75 crore)
• Prasidh Krishna (Rs 9.5 crore)
• Mahipal Lomror (Rs 1.7 crore)
• Kumar Kushagra (Rs 65 lakh)
• Manav Suthar (Rs 30 lakh)
• Anuj Rawat (Rs 30 lakh)
• Nishant Sindhu (Rs 30 lakh)

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Retentions: Sunil Narine (12), Rinku Singh (13), Andre Russell (12), Varun Chakaravarthy (12), Harshit Rana (4) and Ramandeep Singh (4).

• Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 23.75 crore)
• Anrich Nortje (Rs 6.5 crore)
• Quinton De Kock (Rs 3.6 crore)
• Angkrish Raghuvanshi (Rs 3 crore)
• Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Rs 2 crore)
• Vaibhav Arora (Rs 1.8 crore)
• Mayank Markande (Rs 30 lakh)

Lucknow Super Giants:

Retentions: Nicholas Pooran (21), Mayank Yadav (11), Ravi Bishnoi (4), Mohsin Khan (4), Ayush Badoni (4).

• Rishabh Pant (Rs 27 crore)
• Avesh Khan (Rs 9.75 crore)
• David Miller (Rs 7.5 crore)
• Abdul Samad (Rs 4.2 crore)
• Mitchell Marsh (Rs 3.4 crore)
• Aiden Markram (Rs 2 crore)
• Aryan Juyal (Rs 30 lakh)

Mumbai Indians:

Retentions: Rohit Sharma (16.3), Jasprit Bumrah (18), Suryakumar Yadav (16.35), Tilak Varma (8), Hardik Pandya (16.35).

• Trent Boult (Rs 12.5 crore)
• Naman Dhir (Rs 5.25 crore)
• Robin Minz (Rs 65 lakh)
• Karn Sharma (Rs 50 lakh)

Punjab Kings:

Retentions: Shashank Singh (5.5) and Prabhsimran Singh (4).

• Shreyas Iyer (Rs 26.75 crore)
• Yuzvendra Chahal (Rs 18 crore)
• Arshdeep Singh (Rs 18 crore)
• Marcus Stoinis (Rs 11 crore)
• Nehal Wadhera (Rs 4.2 crore)
• Glenn Maxwell (Rs 4.2 crore)
• Vyshak Vijaykumar (Rs 1.8 crore)
• Yash Thakur (Rs 1.6 crore)
• Harpreet Brar (Rs 1.5 crore)
• Vishnu Vinod (Rs 95 lakh)

Rajasthan Royals:

Retentions: Sanju Samson (18), Riyan Parag (14), Yashasvi Jaiswal (18), Sandeep Sharma (4), Dhruv Jurel (14) and Shimron Hetmyer (11).

• Jofra Archer (Rs 12.5 crore)
• Wanindu Hasaranga (Rs 5.25 crore)
• Maheesh Theekshana (Rs 4.4 crore)
• Akash Madhwal (Rs 1.2 crore)
• Kumar Kartikeya Singh (Rs 30 lakh)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru:

Retentions: Virat Kohli (21), Rajat Patidar (11) and Yash Dayal (5).

• Josh Hazlewood (Rs 12.5 crore)
• Phil Salt (Rs 11.5 crore)
• Jitesh Sharma (Rs 11 crore)
• Liam Livingstone (Rs 8.75 crore)
• Rasikh Dar (Rs 6 crore)
• Suyash Sharma (Rs 2.6 crore)

Sunrisers Hyderabad:

Retentions: Heinrich Klaasen (23), Pat Cummins (18), Travis Head (14), Abhishek Sharma (14) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (6).

• Ishan Kishan (Rs 11.25 crore)
• Mohammad Shami (Rs 10 crore)
• Harshal Patel (Rs 8 crore)
• Abhinav Manohar (Rs 3.2 crore)
• Rahul Chahar (Rs 3.2 crore)
• Adam Zampa (Rs 2.4 crore)
• Simarjeet Singh (Rs 1.5 crore)
• Atharva Taide (Rs 30 lakh)