IPL 2025 Mega Auction FAQs: All you need to know before the big day in Jeddah

The biggest cricketing marketplace will open for business in a day, and it’s going to be a day to remember not only for the players going under the hammer but also for the fans who’ll watch more than 641 crore INR being spent over two days.

Like almost every mega auction before it, this Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction has some new rules and regulations and some real big shots ready to be sold. This article has you covered on all that and much more. 

Let’s begin with the basics — Date, Venue, Schedule, Broadcast 

The IPL mega auction will be held on November 24 and 25 at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

It will begin at 3:30 PM IST, and two sessions will be conducted daily. The first runs starting at 3.30 PM and going on until 5:00 PM. A 45-minute lunch break will follow, and the second session will resume at 5:45 PM and continue until 10:30 PM. 

As it would be evident by now, the third and fourth days of the Perth Test are clashing with the auction. However, the Test will get over around half an hour before the auction begins each day. 

You can watch the auction on Star Sports on TV and stream the event on Jio Cinema. 

What’s new this auction? 

> To begin with, the auctioneer is herself new to the IPL mega auction. Mallika Sagar, who has conducted Women’s Premier League (WPL) and Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) auctions before and is an art collector and auctioneer by profession, will make her debut at the mega auction. She was part of the 2024 IPL mini-auction. 

> The Right to Match (RTM) cards are functioning slightly differently this time. Introduced in 2018, they were used by teams to retain their players from their earlier squads, who they weren’t able to retain ahead of the auction. 

Teams then used the RTM card to match the highest bid on the player they wanted to retain and then buy the player. 

However, this time, the team that placed the original is allowed one more opportunity to raise the bid for the player after the RTM card is used. If the team using the RTM decides to match the final bid raised by the other franchise, they will be able to retain the player in question. If not, the original bidding team will get the player. 

Since all teams except Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders have RTM options during the auction, you’ll see it used quite a few times in the next two days. 

You can check the remaining retained players and purse for each franchise here. 

> There are as many as three big Indian international stars who are up for grabs in this auction as captaincy candidates — Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul. All three are part of the marquee list and would be amongst the first few names in the auction. Expect many teams to go after them, as captains are high in demand and low in supply this auction. 

> James Anderson,42, has put his name on the auction list for the first time. While he hasn’t played any T20 cricket since 2014, it seems like the English veteran doesn’t want to miss out on the fun. With a base price of 1.25 crore, teams can also get a bowler who can teach many things to their young guns in the nets. 

Interestingly, the youngest player in the auction is just 13 — Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who was recently picked in India’s squad for the Men’s U-19 Asia Cup in 2024. 

Also read - Vaibhav Suryavanshi: How this 13-year-old is putting Bihar on India’s cricket map

> Overall, 1,574 players registered for the IPL auction, including some interesting players even from Italy. 

However, the list has been trimmed down to 577 players, with Jofra Archer and Saurabh Netravalkar being late additions. Teams can fill a maximum of 204 slots, including 70 spots for overseas players in their squad.

What will be the order of the auction? 

The players have been divided into five different categories, and these will decide the order in which they will appear in the auction. 

First are the two marquee sets featuring the biggest names in this auction. The marquee players are further divided into two sets, M1 and M2. 

M1 will see Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Jos Buttler, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, and Mitchell Starc going under the hammer. 

M2 includes KL Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal, Liam Livingstone, David Miller, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj. 

Following the 12 marquee players, capped players will be auctioned according to their skill specialisation (batsman, bowler, keeper, etc.). 

Uncapped players would follow capped players, and then a second round of capped players would be presented to auction. 

After this, the accelerated auction will begin from player number 117 and include players from the auction list who may not have been initially called for bidding. Unsold players from the earlier rounds can also be reintroduced for bidding in this round. 

Teams must submit their player list by 10 PM IST on November 24, as the accelerated auction is scheduled for the second day. 

Get yourself ready for the mega auction!

For that, you don’t need to do much. At Cricket.com, we have already put up detailed listicles for all kinds of auction dynamics and possibilities. You can check them out below:

> Which player will each franchise look to RTM?

> Maxwell to CSK? Buttler to DC? Who are the dream picks for each franchise?  

> Ghazanfar, Hardie & other youngsters who could land IPL contracts

> Ashwin, Rahul, Miller and Chahal: Possible homecomings in IPL 2025

> Top 5 overseas captains and where they could go  

> Which uncapped bowlers can franchises target?

> Which uncapped batters can franchises target?  

> Williamson to Warner: Top 5 players who could go unsold at IPL mega auction

> IPL Auction dynamics primer - Does auction dynamics really impact an IPL franchise? 

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