Don't rule out a 25-crore buy at the IPL 2025 mega auction

A total of 577 players are set to feature in the IPL 2025 mega auction on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Here, we highlight a few significant trends that could be in play at the event.

Will there be a 25-crore buy?

Following the record bids at the IPL 2024 mini auction by KKR and SRH to buy the Australian pair of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins respectively, there is an anticipation that the INR 25-crore ceiling might be broken this time.

There are two likely reasons this could happen. Firstly, Rishabh Pant. Pant is listed in the first set of marquee players that will ring in the auction on Sunday. He will be among the most sought-after players because several teams are on the lookout for an Indian captain-cum-wicketkeeper. Pant is the first big-name India player to come up in an auction in a long time, and the expectation is that the teams with the biggest purses - PBKS (INR 110.5 crore), RCB (INR 83 crore) and LSG (INR 69 crore) - will bid for him.

Then there is DC (INR 73 crore), the franchise Pant played for since 2016 and led since 2021 until last season. Pant opted to head to the auction after retention talks with DC failed, which he recently clarified had nothing to do with money. DC still have the option to buy him back as they have two right-to-match (RTM) options available. And it is the modified RTM rule that might just escalate the bids.

How will the modified RTM rule impact the bidding?

When it has been used in the past, the RTM option allowed franchises to buy back a player by simply matching the price at which that player was sold at the auction. But in the modified RTM rule, which will be in play at this mega auction, if the previous franchise wants to use the RTM card, the franchise that makes the final bid will be given an additional opportunity to raise their bid. In case that happens, the original franchise will need to match that bid using the RTM card to secure the player.

For example, say any franchise apart from DC has made a final bid of INR 18 crore for Pant. DC decide to use the RTM. The other franchise then decides to hike their final bid to INR 25 crore. DC, to buy back Pant, will need to match that price or lose out.

Officials at franchises have pointed out that the new RTM rule gives no assurance that a team can get back a player at a fair price. Consequently, several franchises have retained at least five, or in the case of KKR and RR, the maximum of six players.

ESPNcricinfo has learnt that a few franchises suspect the RTM rule is also responsible for some big-name players opting to head to the auction after receiving an assurance from another franchise that they would be paid a bigger price.

Impact Player - a hot buy

The Impact Player rule was a significant factor in record totals being smashed in IPL 2024. Most Impact Players were predominantly Indian. Many of those were also uncapped. In 2023, Dhruv Jurel announced himself initially as an Impact Player at RR. In 2024, the success of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma at PBKS, or the massive INR 8.4 crore CSK paid acquire power-hitter Sameer Rizvi, were examples of how seriously franchises were paying attention to having a player who can be earmarked as the Impact Player.

This time around, too, franchises will be on the lookout for uncapped Indian names for the role. A few players that could potentially attract a significant bid include Ashutosh and Rizvi, who are back at the auction, Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batter Robin Minz, and Karnataka batter Abhinav Manohar.

Uncapped players that could attract strong bids

The quality and importance of uncapped Indian players have grown as franchises have been investing in scouting and in helping these players grow. Importantly, the players are now looked at from a long-term perspective. The success stories of Rinku Singh (KKR) and Tilak Varma (MI) are the two recent examples of uncapped players graduating into top performers, who now play for India.

In addition to the names listed for Impact Player role, here's a short list of uncapped players who are likely to fetch strong bids at this auction: Harpreet Brar, Nehal Wadhera, Anshul Kamboj, Rasikh Salam, Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Gurjapneet Singh.