Every year, there come some days in world cricket, when there is complete arrangement of tremendous action and thrill for the fans from morning to evening. Match in Australia or New Zealand in the morning, match in India, Pakistan or England during the day and then match in West Indies at night. On Sunday 24th November also, there will be complete arrangements of thrill for the fans from morning till night. Only the reason will be a little different. From morning till day, the test match between India and Australia will be enjoyed in Perth, but after that the big action will start, because the mega auction of IPL 2025 will start. Everyone was eagerly waiting for this auction which lasted for two days and this wait is going to end on Sunday 24th November.
Before the new season of the world’s biggest T20 league, the auction table has once again been set, where apart from many big, famous and famous cricketers from around the world, the fate of many domestic players will also be decided. If there is an IPL auction, it is sure to rain money. There will be huge bidding on many players and some unknown players will suddenly become millionaires. Then there will be some who have a lot of influence in international cricket but they will not be questioned here.
Why is this time’s mega auction special?
Although every auction is exciting and interesting for the teams, players and fans, but this time it is more special than before. The first thing is that this time a mega auction is being organized, which will last for 2 days. Through this, players will be bought for the next 3 seasons. This auction is also special because for the first time its excitement has reached a new land. This auction will be organized in Jeddah city of Saudi Arabia for the next two days. In this way, the IPL auction is being organized outside India for the second consecutive year. For this, Jeddah’s Abadi Al Johar Arena has been made the venue where the fate of 577 players will be decided.
Some new rules came before the auction
BCCI has also introduced some new rules for the mega auction this time. For the first time, the board had also given every team the option to retain 6 players instead of 4 before the auction. Now it was up to the teams to retain all the 6 players in advance or use the right to match for them in the mega auction. Some teams retained all 6 players but most also left some slots for Right to Match. This means that this time the hard work and planning of many teams on the auction table can be spoiled by other teams through RTM.
Apart from this, this time the board had also made it clear that any foreign player will be able to register for the next mini auction only if he has registered himself for the mega auction. In the last several seasons, it was seen that foreign players used to come in the mini auction only to get higher bids, about which the franchises had complained to the BCCI. Apart from this, now foreign players, after being sold in the auction, will not be able to suddenly withdraw their names even before the start of the season. Doing this will result in a ban of 2 years.
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The prestigious #TATAIPL Trophy makes its appearance in Jeddah
1⃣ Day To Go for #TATAIPLAuction
pic.twitter.com/P9efNus6i0
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) November 23, 2024
Which players will keep an eye on?
This time, 577 players have got a place in the shortlist for the auction, out of which BCCI has kept 12 special players in the set of marquee players. These 12 players will be part of two different sets of 6-6. The auction will start at 3.30 pm Indian time and these 12 players will be the first to be auctioned. Among these, 3 names are most important, after which many teams will be running – Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. These 3 big names of Indian cricket are part of the mega auction this time because they were not retained this time.
The highest bid is expected on these three, because all three are captaincy options. Especially on Rishabh Pant, there is a possibility of breaking all the old records of the auction. Whether this happens remains to be seen. Apart from these, players like Jos Buttler, Mohammed Shami, Mitchell Starc, Mohammed Siraj are also part of this set. Apart from these, 42 year old veteran fast bowler James Anderson is entering the auction for the first time. It will be interesting to see whether any team will buy him or not.
How much money and how many players?
Like every mini and mega auction, this time too BCCI had increased the auction purse of the franchises. This time the auction purse has increased to Rs 120 crore, which will increase the teams’ ability to buy players and the possibility of getting higher prices is also strong. If we talk about the total auction purse, then all the 10 franchises have a total of Rs 641 crore. At the same time, out of total 577 players, only a maximum of 204 slots are available. Although every franchise has the option to prepare a squad of 25 players, it is mandatory to have at least 20 players in each squad. In such a situation, it is difficult to say whether all 204 slots will be filled.
