IPL Auction 2025 – Lucknow buy Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer go to Punjab Kings

On By Littum

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 sign Shreyas Iyer a few minutes earlier.

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

LSG and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) started bidding for Pant, with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) joining the race as RCB dropped out. SRH and LSG took the bid to INR 20.75 crore, after which 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. As per the new RTM rules in 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 that way,” said Shashwat Goenka, the LSG owner. “This (getting Pant for 27 crore) was very good as per our plan. It was not really a magic number, we just wanted a number so that RTM is not exercised.”

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

Ricky Ponting, the new PBKS coach, said he was happy to work with Shreyas again, after their time together in DC. “I haven’t spoken to him yet, I tried to call him before the auction but he didn’t answer,” he said when asked if Shreyas would be the new PBKS captain. “He has 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 am happy to work with him again if he can do it for us in IPL I will be quite happy.”

KL Rahul was the third great Indian batsman 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 bid for all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer from KKR and RCB. He was eventually sold for a whopping INR 23.75 (approx. $2.83 million) 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 failed. 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 also stay on, he can also help Shubman,” said Parthiv Patel, GT’s assistant coach. “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 another player – South African fast bowler Kagiso Rabada – from the first marquee set, fending off competition from RCB and MI to buy him for INR 10.75 crore ( $1 .28 million approx.). They also brought in Mohammed Siraj from the second set of marquee players for INR 12.25 crore ($1.46 million approx).

KKR and MI began bidding for Starc, with RCB also showing interest, before he was eventually bought by DC for INR 11.75 crore ($1.40 million approx), a massive pay cut from his previous record price of INR 24 .75 crore last year ($2.98 million at that time).

“Pretty excited about the signings. Both KL and Starc are world-class players. In fact, they are going up against each other right now in India versus Australia, so it’s quite interesting,” DC head coach Hemang Badani said. “Starc is a match-winner, he is a wicket-taker and (we) couldn’t be happier. And with KL Rahul, again, someone who we think is a bankable player will give you runs every season. For me, at the moment this is the best buy at the auction, but that said, there is work to be done.”

Big payday for Chahal

One of the biggest surprises of the IPL 2022 mega auction was Yuzvendra Chahal being sold for just INR 6.50 crore to RR. However, this time Chahal had much more interest, with GT, CSK, LSG, RCB and SRH trying to buy him. However, PBKS outbid them all to buy Chahal for INR 18 crore, the third-third most expensive player in 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 award and I am very excited,” Chahal shared. Jio cinema. “I had a feeling and even my friends told me that I will go to Punjab, but I had no idea that it would be at such a high price. I had INR 12-13 crore in mind, but I deserve this. Wherever you go, you always have the opportunity to learn and grow, and I will make sure to work hard and deliver my best.”

CSK gets busy; quiet start for MI and RR

There were a total of 12 players in the first two tent 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 failed to buy a single player from the marquee sets.

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

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

Arshdeep the sole RTM buy from marquee set

While there were several opportunities for teams to use their RTM options to buy back their former players in the marquee sets, PBKS was 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, 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 go unbid in the IPL 2025 mega auction. However, the bigger surprise was when David Warner, one of the IPL’s most prolific batsmen, also did not get any bids 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 …