The 'Indian' Premier League
Overseas players earning big at IPL player auctions was a trend in the past decade, but this time, it wasn't so. The top five buys at the 2025 IPL player auction were Indians, bought for INR 18-plus crore. Only twice before were the three most expensive players at an IPL auction Indians: in 2011 and 2022. In 2011, Indians occupied the top seven places.
Before this auction, the highest-paid Indian cricketer at an IPL auction was Yuvraj Singh, who earned INR 16 crore from Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) in 2015. It was the highest price paid for any player at an IPL auction until then, but was surpassed six times in the next nine years leading up to this auction, every time by an overseas player. Only twice in that nine-year period did an Indian fetch the highest price of the IPL auction - in 2019 (Jaydev Unadkat and Varun Chakaravarthy, INR 8.40 crore) and 2022 (Ishan Kishan, INR 15.25 crore).
Arshdeep Singh was the first Indian to break Yuvraj's record on Sunday, when Punjab Kings bought him for INR 18 crore. The left-arm pacer would see his record shattered by Shreyas Iyer in the next ten minutes, also bought by PBKS, for INR 26.75 crore. That bid made Shreyas also the most expensive player ever at IPL auctions, bettering Mitchell Starc's INR 24.75 crore, paid by KKR, in 2024. But Rishabh Pant soon went past them all, when the LSG shelled out INR 27 crore via the Right to Match card option.
The bidding war for Shreyas lasted the longest, as the three teams in the race (KKR, PBKS and DC) put in 103 bids. Arshdeep received bids from most franchises - seven bid for him: CSK, DC, GT, RCB, RR, PBKS and SRH.
The ten franchises spent INR 383.4 crore on 120 Indian players at this auction. As many as 21 players earned a price of INR 10 crore or more, of which 12 were Indians. England players were the next biggest earners, with INR 70.25 crore spent on 12 players. South Africa was represented the most on the sold list of overseas players: 14 South Africans were bought this season.
Specialists in demand
The franchises bid big for specialist bowlers and batters - probably a result of the Impact Player rule. INR 284.05 crore was spent on 71 players registered as bowlers, while 32 batters earned INR 117.05 crore, of which 22.85% belonged to Shreyas himself. Franchises bought 60 players registered as allrounders for INR 160.3 crore.
INR 2.67 crore was spent on average for each allrounder, which is lower than the other three roles - batters (3.66), wicketkeepers (4.09) and bowlers (4). Yuzvendra Chahal became the most expensive spin bowler at IPL auctions, picked by PBKS for INR 18 crore. The previous highest price for any spinner at the auctions was INR 10.75 crore for Wanindu Hasaranga (who was registered as an allrounder) by RCB in 2022. The previous highest for a spinner registered as a specialist bowler was only INR 9 crore - Rashid Khan, by SRH, in 2018.
Noor Ahmad also broke that mark this year, having been bought by CSK for INR 10 crore.
Likewise, the highest for a specialist batter before Shreyas' INR 26.75 crore this time was Yuvraj's 16 crore by Daredevils in 2015.
Younger than the league!
Vaibhav Suryavanshi, aged 13 years and 243 days on Monday, became the youngest player ever to be bought at an IPL auction. Rajasthan Royals bought him for INR 1.1 crore, up from his base price of INR 30 lakh. Suryavanshi was born in 2011, on March 27, which makes him younger than the Indian Premier League itself, which began in 2008.
The previous youngest player to earn a bid at an IPL auction was Prayas Ray Barman, bought by RCB for INR 1.5 crore for the 2019 season. Barman was 16 years and 54 days old at the time of the auction, and entered with a base price of INR 20 lakh.
Youth earn big
Suryavanshi was one of 13 players aged 20 or less bought at this auction. The franchises picked only nine players aged 36 or more, six at their base price.
INR 23.2 crore was spent on those nine older players, of which INR 9.75 crore went from CSK to R Ashwin.
That's not to say players were not rewarded for their experience: 42 players aged between 31 and 35 were bought by the franchises for a total of INR 242.75 crore, which is INR 5.78 crore on average per player.
PBKS keep busy, MI get them cheap
Punjab Kings entered the auction with a purse of INR 110.50 crore, which was by far the most among the lot (each team began with INR 120 crore, and then had how much they paid for their retained players deducted from that). Their activity at the auction table reflected that: they bid for 47 players in total, the most by any team. They spend INR 110.15 crore overall, also the most.
They were the losing bidder for 19 players, the most among the 10 teams at this auction. Seven of the 23 players that PBKS bought at this auction were picked at base price, and three were among the top five buys of this auction - Arshdeep, Shreyas and Chahal.
Only Rajasthan Royals had a lower percentage of players bought at base price than PBKS - four out of 14.
Mumbai Indians entered the auction with the smallest purse of INR 45 crore - they had retained five players, including India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and three top performers in India's recent T20 World Cup triumph, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma.
Mumbai was the losing bidder for 15 players, the second-most behind PBKS' 19. They eventually filled 18 out of the 20 available spots, of which 12 players came at their base price. They spent INR 37.8 crore on the six other players, for a total auction spend of INR 44.8 crore.
Hikes for the Iyers, Curran takes a hit
The Iyers, Shreyas and Venkatesh, got the highest raise from their previous payout. Venkatesh got a hike of INR 15.75 crore (from 8 to 23.75), while Shreyas earned 14.25 more (from 12.5 to 26.75). Arshdeep was next on this list, with a raise of INR 14 crore from his previous salary of INR 4 crore.
Jitesh Sharma got a percentage increase of 5400% - the highest among them all. He was sold to RCB for INR 11 crore; PBKS had previously paid him INR 20 lakh.
Rasikh Salam got the highest multiple of his base price at this auction: 20 times his base price of INR 30 lakh, as he was sold to RCB for INR 6 crore.
Sam Curran received the highest pay cut. PBKS bought him for INR 18.5 crore at the auction in 2023, but CSK took him for only INR 2.4 crore this time. Starc went for INR 11.75 crore, to Delhi Capitals, which was 13 crore less than the 24.75 he got from KKR last year.
Starc completes a fifty
Despite his pay cut, Starc has joined Pat Cummins as the only players to have earned INR 50-plus crore at IPL auctions. Starc took his total to INR 50.90 crore in his fourth appearance at an auction, behind Cummins' aggregate of INR 54.15 crore.
Glenn Maxwell is closing on the 50-crore mark too, with his sold price across six auctions totalling INR 49.5 crore.
Jaydev Unadkat was sold for the 13th time at an IPL auction. No other player has been sold at the auction more than seven times.