IPL Mega Auction: Three captains in the first set, 2 world champions in the second, on which players will the first bid be placed

The mega auction for IPL auction 2025 will start in Jeddah from 1 pm on November 24. Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul, the three captains were released by their franchises, so they have been included in the 12 marquee players for the auction.

Highlights

• IPL mega auction will start on November 24 at 1 pm
• Marquee players divided into two different categories for the first time
• Out of a total of 574 players, 366 are Indian and 208 are foreign players

The master plan of the Indian Premier League mega auction to be held on November 24 has been revealed. The players to be auctioned have been divided into three sets. The first set has three IPL captains. In such a situation, most of the budget can be spent on this category. The second set has big names like Indian T20 World Cup winning player Yuzvendra Chahal and ODI World Champion Mohammed Shami. In the third set, Australia's stormy batsman Jake Fraser McGarg is expected to be showered with crores of rupees.

Seven big Indian names in the auction

Among the seven big Indian players to be seen in the auction, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Arshdeep Singh are included in the first set of six marquee players. The second set includes KL Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj. The five foreign names include Australia's left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who broke the record for the highest bid in the IPL auction ahead of the 2024 season.

Which legends are in Set-2?

England's white ball format captain Jos Buttler, England all-rounder Liam Livingstone, South Africa's power-hitter David Miller and South Africa's fast Kagiso Rabada are also in Set-2. This is the first time since the 2018 auction that marquee players have been kept in two different sets. In 2022, 10 marquee players were kept together.

Sets of IPL mega auction

Set-1 - Buttler, Shreyas, Pant, Rabada, Arshdeep and Starc.

Set-2 - Chahal, Livingstone, Miller, KL Rahul, Shami and Siraj.

Set-3 - Brook, Conway, Fraser-McGurk, Markram, Padikkal, Tripathi and Warner

KKR-RR retained all the players

Talking about retention, only Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals are the franchises that have retained a maximum of six players each. This means that both these players will not have the Right to Match card. Punjab Kings (PBKS) will have four RTMs, while Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will have three and Delhi Capitals (DC) will have two. Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Gujarat Titans (GT), Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Mumbai Indians (MI) will have only one RTM.

366 Indian players out of 574 players

Of the 574 players in the auction, 366 are Indians and 208 are foreigners. Three are from associate teams: Ali Khan and former India Under-19 captain Unmukt Chand (both USA) and Brandon McMullen (Scotland). Of the 330 uncapped players, 318 are Indians and 12 are foreigners. A total of 204 slots are yet to be filled across the 10 teams, of which 70 players could be foreigners.

This big name will not be seen this time

The auction will begin on November 24 at 1 pm local time (3.30 pm IST). Big names missing from the list of 574 players include England fast bowler Jofra Archer, who recently returned to action after a long injury layoff. Mumbai Indians (MI) spent Rs 8 crore on Archer in the IPL 2022 mega auction. He was then struggling with his elbow surgery, but he could not get fit and had to leave the season without playing any match. Archer had chosen a base price of Rs 2 crore for himself in the auction list.

42-year-old Anderson is the oldest, 13-year-old Vaibhav is the youngest

42-year-old James Anderson, an experienced England bowler and who last played a T20 match in 2014, has also registered himself for the IPL auction this time for Rs 1.25 crore. He will be the oldest player in the auction. If a team selects him, Anderson will play IPL for the first time. At the same time, the youngest player is left-handed batsman Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who has played five first-class matches for Bihar and three youth Test matches for the Indian Under-19 team at the age of just 13. He also scored a century against Australia Under-19 last month.