The other Indian players with the maximum base price of INR 2 crore are Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Ishan Kishan, Mukesh Kumar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, T Natarajan, Devdutt Padikkal, Krunal Pandya, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav.
Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan, who went unsold in the last auction, have registered at a base price of INR 75 lakh.
Mitchell Starc, who became the most expensive player in IPL history when he was bought for INR 24.50 crore by KKR in 2024, is back in the auction pool at a base price of INR 2 crore. Jofra Archer is also on the list at that same base price, having not played in the IPL since 2023, when he appeared in only five games for Mumbai Indians because of injury issues.
Each franchise can build a squad of up to 25 players, which means there are 204 slots available at the auction after 46 players were retained across the ten teams from last season.
Each team has a total purse of INR 120 crore to build their squads, but following the retention, Punjab Kings have the biggest purse remaining (INR 110.5 crore) to spend at the mega auction, followed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (INR 83 crore), Delhi Capitals (INR 73 crore), Gujarat Titans (INR 69 crore), Lucknow Super Giants (INR 69 crore) Chennai Super Kings (INR 55 crore), Kolkata Knight Riders (INR 51 crore), Mumbai Indians (INR 45 crore), Sunrisers Hyderabad (INR 45 crore), Rajasthan Royals (INR 41 crore).
The IPL has allowed teams to retain up to six players this time – of which a maximum of five can be capped and a maximum of two can be uncapped. The six players can either be retained outright ahead of the auction, or can be bought back using Right-to-Match (RTM) options at the auction, or a combination of both.
If a player has been bought by another franchise at the mega auction, the franchise that he was part of in IPL 2024 can step in at the end of the bidding process and buy back their player using the RTM option by matching the highest bid. After that, the franchise that made the winning bid will be given another opportunity to raise the bid to whatever amount they wish. In that case, the player’s previous team will have to match the increased bid to buy back their player.
Having retained just two players, PBKS have the most RTM options (four) at the auction. RCB, who retained three players, have three while Delhi Capitals, who retained four players, have two. Five teams – MI, Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Titans, SRH and LSG – retained five players each and have just one RTM option at the auction, while RR and KKR have no RTM options.
There is of course no limit on the number of players a franchise can buy back if they place the highest bids for them during regular bidding at the auction.
