Credits: IPL/X
The two-day IPL 2025 extravaganza wrapped up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Monday, November 25 shattering all previous records. The Day 2 of the auction saw New Zealand icon Kane Williamson becoming the first player to go under the hammer. The batting stalwart who has won several matches for his country unfortunately couldn’t acquire any bid. West Indies batter Rovman Powell got the first bid of the day as reigning champions Kolkata Knight Riders roped him in for INR 1.5 Crore.
Earlier on day 1, Indian wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant entered record books as he became the most expensive player ever in the history of the tournament. Lucknow Super Giants went all out for the Indian star and bought him in for INR 27 Cr. South African star Fad du Plessis, who led RCB from 2022 to 2024, went to Delhi Capitals for INR 2 Crore after the Bengaluru-based franchise refused to use RTM for their former skipper.
The second and final day of the auction came with a few shocks also as names like veteran David Warner, Prithvi Shaw and Shardul Thakur went unsold earlier in the auction. Lucknow Super Giants’ former batter Krunal Pandya went to RCB for INR 5.75 Crore while Rajasthan Royals bid for Nitish Rana for INR 4.20 Crore as they made their first purchase of the day.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was earlier associated with SunRisers Hyderabad is set to join Royal Challengers Bengaluru for INR 10.75 Crore. The star bowler became one of the most expensive purchases of the auction and the most expensive player of the day after MI, LSG and RCB engaged in a fiery bidding tussle. Fast bower Deepak Chahar, who was bought by Mumbai Indians for INR 9.25 Crore remained the second-biggest buy of the day. On the other hand, speedster Akash Deep became the third-highest buy after LSG signed him for INR 8 Crore.
Apart from it, the Day 2 of the auction saw the record of highest amount spent in an IPL auction being broken. The franchises spent more than INR 637.95 Crore as they purchased a total of 178 players. The previous record for the highest spent in an IPL auction was INR 555.7 Crore during the IPL 2022 mega auction.
