New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be conducting the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega-auction on November 24 and 25 in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. The board has reportedly conveyed to all ten franchises that there will be two sets of marquee players in the upcoming player auction. All the franchises are currently gearing up for the auction, laying out their respective plans.
According to a report in Cricbuzz, the BCCI has told the franchises that there will be two elite lists consisting of 8 to 9 players in each set. Although it is not unusual to have two elite lists in a mega-auction, in the previous grand auction in 2022, there was only one list. However, in the auctions of 2018 and 2014, there were two sets.
The likes of KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Siraj, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jos Buttler, and Mitchell Starc are all expected to make it to the elite grade. Ben Stokes would have been its part as well had he registered for this year’s auction which will be held at Abady Al Johar Arena, also known as Benchmark Arena.
A base price of Rs. 2 crore is allotted to each marquee player and it is expected that by the end of the first two sets, 30 to 50 percent of the auction purse will have been spent. Each franchise is expected to acquire at least two big names which could cost them between Rs. 20 to 25 crores on average. These players will be collectively drawing Rs. 200-250 crore from the total available auction purse of Rs 641.5 crore. The franchises have already slashed Rs. 558.5 crore from the permitted Rs. 1200 crore on recent player retentions.
The two-day auction proceedings will be dictated by the biddings in the first two set of players who are expected to be sold. Punjab Kings (PBKS) currently has the largest bank deposit of Rs. 110.5 crore and is expected to walk away with some best signings. The order of bidding and the marquee list will be released by the BCCI in the coming days.
Number of players in auction
The report also stated that the BCCI has circulated a register of 1,574 names of which 1,165 are Indian players and 409 overseas players. The list also incorporates 320 capped, 1224 uncapped, and 30 associate players. All the franchises have combinedly retained 46 players. The board has also asked the teams to suggest new names they want in the auction. They have been told to respond by November 12 with a list of players that they want included in the final list.
If every franchise includes a maximum of 25 players in their squad, 204 players will be transacted in the auction, out of which 70 may be foreign players.
Auction register player list:
Capped Indian – 48 players
Capped International – 272 players
Associate – 30 players
Uncapped Indians who were a part of previous IPL seasons – 152 players
Uncapped International who were a part of previous IPL seasons – 3 players
Uncapped Indians – 965 players
Uncapped Internationals – 104 players
As per a report, the upcoming mega-auction for the IPL 2025 will have two sets of marquee players. The auction is scheduled for November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
