IPL mega auction on 24-25 November: Will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

The IPL mega auction will be held on 24 and 25 November in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 1574 players have registered for the auction. Last year the mini auction was held in Dubai, now the mega auction is going to be held in Saudi Arabia.

Big bids are expected on Rishabh Pant, who was released from Delhi Capitals, former Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul and champion Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer. Pant last went to auction in 2016, Rahul in 2018 and Shreyas before the 2022 IPL.

204 players' space vacant in 10 teams

The IPL committee had set the date for retaining players before the mega auction as 31 October 2024. 10 teams retained 46 players. After which 204 players' space became vacant. More than 1000 players will enter the auction for these places.

1574 players registered

BCCI said, 1574 players have registered for the auction. Of which 1165 are Indians and 409 are foreigners. These also include 30 players from associate countries. Among the foreign teams, South Africa has the highest number of 91 players and Australia has registered 76 players.

Anderson-Archer registered, Stokes' name not in the list

England fast bowlers James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Mitchell Starc and Italy's Thomas Draka have registered to participate in the auction. While Ben Stokes' name is not in this list. Anderson has not played a single T20 match since 2014 and has never been a part of the IPL, he has registered at a base price of 1.25 crores. Anderson retired from international cricket in September 2024.

Mitchell Starc, who became the most expensive player in IPL history last year, has kept a base price of 2 crores. Jofra Archer is also in the list at the same base price. Archer played only five matches for Mumbai Indians in 2023 and then was ruled out of IPL due to injuries. This long list also includes an Italian player Thomas Draka.

Punjab has the highest purse left

This time the IPL committee has given a purse of Rs 120 crore to the teams to buy players. Due to retaining only 2 players, Punjab Kings have the highest purse of Rs 110.50 crore left. The purse of all other teams is less than Rs 85 crore.

Rajasthan Royals spent Rs 79 crore to retain 6 players, so it has the least Rs 41 crore left. Hyderabad and Mumbai retained 5-5 international players, so they have Rs 45 crore left.

Mega auction takes place once in 4 years

IPL's mega auction takes place once in 4 years. Meanwhile, mini auctions are held every year. Last year, a mini auction was held in Dubai, in which Australia's Mitchell Starc was bought for Rs 24.75 crore and Pat Cummins for Rs 20.50 crore. The last mega auction was held before the 2022 IPL, when Lucknow and Gujarat teams were added to the league.

Klaasen retained for Rs 23 crore

Sunrisers Hyderabad retained wicketkeeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen for Rs 23 crore before the retention deadline. He is the most expensive player in retention. After him, LSG retained Nicholas Pooran and RCB retained Virat Kohli for Rs 21 crore each.

5 teams need captain

The most surprising decision in retention was made by champions Kolkata and Delhi. Both released their young captains. Kolkata does not even have an RTM card left, so if the team wants to include Shreyas Iyer back, then they will have to win the bidding war on Iyer.

Delhi definitely has 2 RTM cards left, with this the team can keep Rishabh Pant with them even after entering the auction. Apart from these, Bangalore released Faf du Plessis, Lucknow released KL Rahul and Punjab released Sam Curran. Virat Kohli can captain Bangalore, while the remaining 4 teams will have to buy a captain.

4 teams do not have a wicketkeeper

Before the mega auction, only 6 teams retained wicketkeeper batsmen. Big bids will be made in the auction to get wicketkeepers like Pant, Rahul, Jos Buttler, Ishan Kishan, Phil Salt, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Glenn Phillips, Johnny Bairstow and Jitesh Sharma.

Among these, Bangalore, Kolkata, Gujarat and Mumbai teams will place big bids for the wicketkeeper, because all four did not retain the wicketkeeper. At the same time, Chennai will want to buy Dhoni's backup. The remaining 5 teams will also need a backup wicketkeeper.

Punjab also has 4 RTM cards

Punjab Kings retained only 2 players, due to which the team can now buy 4 players of the squad through RTM i.e. Right to Match card in the auction. Bangalore will have 3 and Delhi will have 2 RTM cards in the auction. Hyderabad and Rajasthan do not have a single RTM card, while the remaining 5 teams have 1 RTM card each.

What is Right to Match Card?

Teams that have retained less than 6 players will get Right to Match i.e. RTM card in the auction. With the RTM card, teams will be able to retain the previous player included in the squad.

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