IPL 2025 mega auction report card: Rating the squads of all 10 teams -

182 players were sold for Rs 639.15 crore over two days in the IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Most of the 10 teams entered the bidding wars after retaining their core group. In the lead-up to the auction, the teams deliberated with the Indian cricket board (BCCI) about several rules. Some expressed their disappointment over a mega auction, highlighting they would lose players whom they scouted and groomed.

After the dramatic build-up, teams zeroed in on their squads and took the first step towards getting ready for the 2025 season.

IPL Auction: Major talking points | Top unsold players

The two marquee sets of players grabbed all the limelight in the lead-up to the auction ever since the pruned list of 574 players was announced for the mega auction. As expected, a few teams splurged big money on big faces, who opted to enter the auction after successful stints with their ex-franchises. Some of them had nasty break-ups.

Rishabh Pant (Rs 27 crore), Shreyas Iyer (Rs 26.75 crore) and Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 23.75 crore) were the biggest victors in the mega auction while the likes of David Warner, Prithvi Shaw and Shardul Thakur were left out without any takers.

IPL Auction: Biggers gainers and losers

When it comes to rating the performances of the teams, it’s important to understand the players they retained before the auction. Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans seem to have assembled formidable squads, which are capable of mounting a challenge for the title next year.

Punjab Kings, who are not known for being smart in the auction, was led wonderfully well by newly-appointed coach Ricky Ponting and their think tank in Jeddah.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru faced the stick for missing out on big buys, but it seems it was a conscious choice as they resisted the temptation of spending big on Day 1. Under Andy Flower and Dinesh Karthik, RCB made some smart buys throughout the two-day auction, impressing their fans. Barring the Will Jacks controversy, RCB did all right.

Chennai Super Kings went about their business as usual and their strong planning was evident while Lucknow Super Giants look weak on paper despite getting Rishabh Pant for the record-breaking sum.

Gujarat Titans were spot on with their buys once again, assembling a squad that can vault them back into the top four.

Here’s IndiaToday.in’s rating of all the 10 squads

Gujarat Titans – 10/10

Gujarat Titans made a strong move even before the auction. Their captain Shubman Gill, agreed to be retained as the second pick, allowing Rashid Khan to get the biggest paycheque. The clarity was evident with the way Ashish Nehra and his men went about their business in Jeddah.

Strengths

A gun pace unit (Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Gerald Coetzee, Mohammed Siraj, Ishant Sharma, Arshad Khan)
Strong spin core (Rashid Khan, Sai Kishore, Washington Sundar)
Blockbuster opening pair: (Shubman Gill, Jos Buttler)
Good finishers (Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan and Sherfane Rutherford)

Weaknesses

GUJARAT TITANS FULL SQUAD

Retained Players: Rashid Khan (Afghanistan) – RS 18 crore, Shubman Gill (India) – RS 16 crore, Rahul Tewatia (India) – RS 8 crore, B Sai Sudharsan (India) – RS 6 crore, Shahrukh Khan (India) – RS 6 crore.

Players Bought in Auction: Kagiso Rabada (South Africa) – RS 10.75 crore, Jos Buttler (England) – RS 15.75 crore, Mohammed Siraj (India) – RS 12.25 crore, Prasidh Krishna (India) – RS 9.5 crore, Nishant Sindhu (India) – RS 30 lakh, Mahipal Lomror (India) – RS 1.7 crore, Kumar Kushagra (India) – RS 65 lakh, Anuj Rawat (India) – RS 30 lakh, Manav Suthar (India) – RS 30 lakh, Washington Sundar (India) – RS 3.2 crore, Gerald Coetzee (South Africa) – RS 2.4 crore, Arshad Khan (India) – RS 1.3 crore, Gurnoor Brar (India) – RS 1.3 crore, Sherfane Rutherford (West Indies) – RS 2.6 crore, Sai Kishore (India) – RS 2 crore, Ishant Sharma (India) – RS 75 lakh, Jayant Yadav (India) – RS 75 lakh, Glenn Phillips (New Zealand) – RS 2 crore, Karim Janat (Afghanistan) – RS 75 lakh, Kulwant Khejroliya (India) – RS 30 lakh.

Predicted XI: Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler. Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Washington Sundar, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna. Impact: Mahipal Lomror,

Mumbai Indians – 9/10

Mumbai Indians won the auction battle even before the auction by retaining one of the strongest cores. They managed to satisy their top players and retained Jasprit Bumrah as their top pick for Rs 18 crore.

Mumbai made smart choices in the auction after staying away from the marquee sets.

STRENGTHS

Strong Indian core (The Big 5, including captain Hardik Pandya and former captain Rohit Sharma)
Better spin attack (Mitchell Santner, Allah Ghazanfar, Karn Sharma)
Gun pace attack (Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, Reece Topley and Lizaad Williams to partner Bumrah and Hardik)
New X-factors (Young Naman Dhir and Will Jacks)

WEAKNESS

No established back-up for finisher Hardik Pandya

MI FULL SQUAD

Mumbai Indians Full Squad

Retained Players: Jasprit Bumrah (India) – RS 18 crore, Suryakumar Yadav (India) – RS 16.35 crore, Hardik Pandya (India) – RS 16.35 crore, Rohit Sharma (India) – RS 16.30 crore, Tilak Varma (India) – RS 8 crore.

Players Bought in Auction: Trent Boult (New Zealand) – RS 12.5 crore, Deepak Chahar (India) – RS 9.25 crore, Allah Ghazanfar (Afghanistan) – RS 4.8 crore, Naman Dhir (India) – RS 5.25 crore, Will Jacks (England) – RS 5.25 crore, Mitchell Santner (New Zealand) – RS 2 crore, Ryan Rickelton (South Africa) – RS 1 crore, Reece Topley (England) – RS 75 lakh, Lizaad Williams (South Africa) – RS 75 lakh, Robin Minz (India) – RS 65 lakh, Karn Sharma (India) – RS 50 lakh, Ashwani Kumar (India) – RS 30 lakh, Shrijith Krishnan (India) – RS 30 lakh, Raj Angad Bawa (India) – RS 30 lakh, Satyanarayana Raju (India) – RS 30 lakh, Bevon Jacobs (India) – RS 30 lakh, Arjun Tendulkar (India) – RS 30 lakh, Vignesh Puthur (India) – RS 30 lakh.

Predicted XI: Rohit Sharma, Will Jacks, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dhir, Hardik Pandya (c), Robin Minz, Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult: Impact: Allah Ghazanfar

Punjab Kings – 9/10

Ricky Ponting and his team seem to have done a fine job in picking an ideal squad that would give them a chance to overcome mediocrity. Having retained only two players, PBKS had a big purse, but also a tough of job of getting right.

It seems Ponting’s ‘Project Punjab’ has begun well.

STRENGTHS

Proven captain (Shreyas Iyer)
Established buys (Punjab spent their money on proven and well-tested IPL talents)
Gun all-rounders option (Azmatullah Omarzai, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen and Glenn Maxwell)
Solid Indian core (Shreyas Iyer, Arshdeep SIngh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shashank Singh, and Vyshak Vijaykumar)
Young exciting talents (Priyansh Arya, Musheer Khan and Prabhsimran Singh)

WEAKNESS

Heavy reliance on Australian overseas players. .

Punjab Kings Full Squad

Retained Players: Shashank Singh (India) – RS 5.5 crore, Prabhsimran Singh (India) – RS 4 crore.

Players Bought in Auction: Shreyas Iyer (India) – RS 26.75 crore, Yuzvendra Chahal (India) – RS 18 crore, Arshdeep Singh (India) – RS 18 crore, Marcus Stoinis (Australia) – RS 11 crore, Nehal Wadhera (India) – RS 4.20 crore, Glenn Maxwell (Australia) – RS 4.20 crore, Vyshak Vijaykumar (India) – RS 1.8 crore, Yash Thakur (India) – RS 1.6 crore, Harpreet Brar (India) – RS 1.5 crore, Vishnu Vinod (India) – RS 95 lakh, Marco Jansen (South Africa) – RS 7 crore, Lockie Ferguson (New Zealand) – RS 2 crore, Josh Inglis (Australia) – RS 2.20 crore, Xavier Bartlett (Australia) – RS 80 lakh, Kuldeep Sen (India) – RS 80 lakh, Pyla Avinash (India) – RS 30 lakh, Suryansh Shedge (India) – RS 30 lakh, Musheer Khan (India) – RS 30 lakh, Harnoor Pannu (India) – RS 30 lakh, Aaron Hardie (Australia) – RS 1.25 crore, Priyansh Arya (India) – RS 3.80 crore, Azmatullah Omarzai (Afghanistan) – RS 2.40 crore.

Predicted XI: Prabhsimran Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Shreyas Iyer (c), Glenn Maxwell, Josh Inglis, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Vijaykumar Vyshak. Impact: Harpreet Brar,

DELHI CAPITALS – 8.5/10

Delhi went for an overhaul after releasing their captain Rishabh Pant. With both sets of owners — GMR Group and JSW Sports — having representatives at the auction table, Delhi did a wonderful job. While they tried to use RTM for Pant, they secured KL Rahul from the marquee list at a steal deal.

STRENGTHS

Captaincy candidates (Both KL Rahul and Axar Patel are in the mix for leadership)
Solid overseas group (Jake Fraser McGurk, Mitchell Starc, Tristan Stubbs, Faf du Plessis, Harry Brook, Dushmantha Chameera, Donnavan Ferraira).
Back-up options (Faf du Plessis, Chameera, Mohit Sharma, Sameer Rizvi and Karun Nair are some top back-up buys)
Solid Indian bowling group (T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel)
Exciting young talents (spin-bowling all-rounder Vipraj Nigam)

WEAKNESSES

Lack of an established finisher

DELHI CAPITALS FULL SQUAD

Retained Players: Axar Patel (India) – RS 16.5 crore, Kuldeep Yadav (India) – RS 13.25 crore, Tristan Stubbs (South Africa) – RS 10 crore, Abishek Porel (India – Uncapped) – RS 4 crore.

Players Bought in Auction: Mitchell Starc (Australia) – RS 11.75 crore, KL Rahul (India) – RS 14 crore, Harry Brook (England) – RS 6.25 crore, Jake Fraser-McGurk (Australia) – RS 9 crore, T Natarajan (India) – RS 10.75 crore, Karun Nair (India) – RS 50 lakh, Sameer Rizvi (India) – RS 95 lakh, Ashutosh Sharma (India) – RS 3.8 crore, Mohit Sharma (India) – RS 2.2 crore, Faf Du Plessis (South Africa) – RS 2 crore, Mukesh Kumar (India) – RS 8 crore, Darshan Nalkande (India) – RS 30 lakh, Vipraj Nigam (India) – RS 50 lakh, Dushmantha Chameera (Sri Lanka) – RS 75 lakh, Donovan Ferreira (South Africa) – RS 75 lakh, Ajay Mandal (India) – RS 30 lakh, Manvanth Kumar L (India) – RS 30 lakh, Tripurana Vijay (India) – RS 30 lakh, Madhav Tiwari (India) – RS 40 lakh.

Playing XI: Jake Fraser-McGurk, KL Rahul (WK/Captain), Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Sameer Rizvi, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar: Impact: Harry Brook.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU (7.5/10)

RCB were criticised for missing out on marquee players on Day 1. However, they seemed to have gone into the auction with a plan and they stuck to it.

With a good mix of experienced and young players, RCB are looking dangerous on paper.

Will Virat Kohli be their captain in 2025?

STRENGTHS

A revamped, but good-looking core
Dangerous top-order (Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, Jacob Bethell)
Power-packed middle-order (Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya
Experienced bowling leaders (Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood)
Young talents (Rasikh Dhar, Yash Dayal)

WEAKNESSES

Lack of top spinners (Suyash Sharma and Swapnil Singh)
Lack of back-up options for bowling group

RCB FULL SQUAD

Retained Players: Virat Kohli (India) – Rs 21 crore | Rajat Patidar (India) – Rs 11 crore | Yash Dayal (India) – Rs 5 crore.

Predicted XI: Phill Salt (wk), Virat Kohli (C), Rajat Patidar, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Josh Hazlewood, Nuwan Thushara/Lungi Ngidi, Suyash Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Impact: Manoj Bhandage.

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD (7/10)

After having retained a strong core of overseas and Indian players, SunRisers Hyderabad did enough to fill the gaps and assemble a power-packed squad. However, there are some chinks in their armour that the opposition teams would like to exploit.

STRENGTHS

Explosive top-order (Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan)
Gun middle-order and local finisher (Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen and Abhinav Manohar)
More spin power (Rahul Chahar and Adam Zampa)
Back-up pace bowlers (Simarjeet Singh and Jaydev Unadkat to partner Mohammed Shami and Harshal Patel)

WEAKNESSES

Losing proven seamers (SRH let go of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natarajan)
Lack of back-up options for middle-order and lower middle-order.

SRH FULL SQUAD

Retained Players: Heinrich Klaasen (South Africa) – RS 8 crore, Pat Cummins (Australia) – RS 12 crore, Abhishek Sharma (India) – RS 4 crore, Travis Head (Australia) – RS 5 crore, Nitish Kumar Reddy (India) – RS 2 crore.

Players Bought in Auction: Mohammed Shami (India) – RS 10 crore, Harshal Patel (India) – RS 8 crore, Ishan Kishan (India) – RS 11.25 crore, Rahul Chahar (India) – RS 3.2 crore, Adam Zampa (Australia) – RS 2.4 crore, Atharva Taide (India) – RS 30 lakh, Abhinav Manohar (India) – RS 3.2 crore, Simarjeet Singh (India) – RS 1.5 crore, Zeeshan Ansari (India) – RS 40 lakh, Jaydev Unadkat (India) – RS 1 crore, Brydon Carse (England) – RS 1 crore, Kamindu Mendis (Sri Lanka) – RS 75 lakh, Aniket Verma (India) – RS 30 lakh, Eshan Malinga (Sri Lanka) – RS 1.2 crore, Sachin Baby (India) – RS 30 lakh.

Predicted XI – Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Simarjeet Singh. Impact: Adam Zampa.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS (7.5/10)

After releasing Shreyas Iyer, KKR went into the auction looking for a captain. However, they stayed away from the marquee names and splurged Rs 23.75 crore on Venkatesh Iyer. While it looked like, the big-money signing would hurt their purse for the remainder of the auction, KKR managed it well, making some smart moves.

STRENGTHS

KKR have a strong core group of players

Terrific spin-bowling core (Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Mayank Markande)

All-rounders aplenty (Andre Russell, Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Rovman Powell, Moeen Ali)

Steal buys (Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Quinton de Kock)

Experienced campaigners from India (Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey)

WEAKNESSES

Lack of a clear-cut captaincy option (Will they go for Ajinkya Rahane or back Venkatesh Iyer?)

Lack of gun Indian pacers despite buying Umran Malik

Kolkata Knight Riders Full Squad

Retained Players: Rinku Singh (India) – RS 13 crore, Varun Chakravarthy (India) – RS 12 crore, Sunil Narine (West Indies) – RS 12 crore, Andre Russell (West Indies) – RS 12 crore, Harshit Rana (India) – RS 4 crore, Ramandeep Singh (India) – RS 4 crore.

Players Bought in Auction: Venkatesh Iyer (India) – RS 23.75 crore, Anrich Nortje (South Africa) – RS 6.5 crore, Quinton De Kock (South Africa) – RS 3.6 crore, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (India) – RS 3 crore, Spencer Johnson (Australia) – RS 2.8 crore, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Afghanistan) – RS 2 crore, Moeen Ali (England) – RS 2 crore, Vaibhav Arora (India) – RS 1.8 crore, Rovman Powell (West Indies) – RS 1.5 crore, Ajinkya Rahane (India) – RS 1.5 crore, Manish Pandey (India) – RS 75 lakh, Umran Malik (India) – RS 75 lakh, Anukul Roy (India) – RS 40 lakh, Mayank Markande (India) – RS 30 lakh, Luvnith Sisodia (India) – RS 30 lakh.

Predicted XI – Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Spencer Johnson, Vaibhav Arora. Impact: Mayank Markande

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS (7/10)

The Super Kings went on a nostalgia trip and bought back players who have served them in the past, including R Ashwin and Sam Curran. They were not very active during the marquee sets after having retained a strong core. CSK went for a lot of all-rounders and it remains to be seen if it will work, considering the availability of impact player rule.

CSK have a strong line-up, but lack of finishing options could hurt them.

STRENGTHS

CSK have a strong core group
A terrific spin-bowling unit (Noor Ahmad, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja)
CSK built on their core by trying to return to their winning combination
Exciting young talents: (Anshul Kamboj (pacer), Gurjapneet Singh (pacer), Ramakrishna Ghosh (big-hitting all-rounder), Andre Siddharth (batter).
Reliable new Indian faces (Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda and Shreyas Gopal)

WEAKNESSES

Lack of back-up options for finisher’s role (Can they rely on MS Dhoni?)

CSK FULL SQUAD

Retained Players: Ruturaj Gaikwad (India) – Rs 18 crore | Ravindra Jadeja (India) – Rs 18 crore | Matheesha Pathirana (Sri Lanka) – Rs 13 crore | Shivam Dube (India) – Rs 12 crore | MS Dhoni (India) – Rs 4 crore.

Predicted XI – Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Rachin Ravindra, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (WK), R Ashwin, Matheesha Pathirana, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj. Impact – Noor Ahmad/Vijay Shankar.

RAJASTHAN ROYALS (6/10)

Rajasthan Royals have looked at changing the DNA of their team. Having let go of R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal, the Royals have opted for a new-look spin attack.

Their batting core remains as powerful as ever and the addition of Jofra Archer is a big plus. However, they are missing a few key pieces of the puzzle.

Will 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavvanshi get a game?

STRENGTHS

Strong retained core
Explosive top and middle-order

WEAKNESSES

Reliance on overseas spinners
Lack of a big name in Indian pace bowling
Lack of back-up for finishers

Rajasthan Royals Full Squad

Retained Players: Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Sandeep Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel

Predicted XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (wk/c), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande. Impact – Shubman Dubey

LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS (5.5/10)

Lucknow released KL Rahul and spent a record-breaking sum of Rs 27 croer to get Rishabh Pant. While the wicketket-keeper batter adds to the firepower, LSG were not able to secure gun overseas bowling options. While their batting unit is stacked with talent, their bowling might come up short.

Can mentor Zaheer Khan work magic?

STRENGTHS

Rishabh Pant and Nicholas Pooran in the same XI.

Top-class batting unit

Experienced middle-order (Mitchell Marsh and David Miller)

Strong Indian bowling core

WEAKNESSES

Lack of proven opening pair (Matthew Breetzke or Aiden Markram to open?)

Established overseas bowler

Lucknow Super Giants Full Squad

Retained Players: Nicholas Pooran (West Indies) – RS 21 crore, Ravi Bishnoi (India) – RS 11 crore, Mayank Yadav (India) – RS 11 crore, Mohsin Khan (India) – RS 4 crore, Ayush Badoni (India) – RS 4 crore.

Players Bought in Auction: Rishabh Pant (India) – RS 27 crore, Avesh Khan (India) – RS 9.75 crore, Akash Deep (India) – RS 8 crore, David Miller (South Africa) – RS 7.5 crore, Abdul Samad (India) – RS 4.2 crore, Mitchell Marsh (Australia) – RS 3.4 crore, Shahbaz Ahmed (India) – RS 2.4 crore, Aiden Markram (South Africa) – RS 2 crore, Matthew Breetzke (South Africa) – RS 75 lakh, Shamar Joseph (West Indies) – RS 75 lakh, M. Siddharth (India) – RS 75 lakh, Arshin Kulkarni (India) – RS 30 lakh, Rajvardhan Hangargekar (India) – RS 30 lakh, Yuvraj Chaudhary (India) – RS 30 lakh, Prince Yadav (India) – RS 30 lakh, Akash Singh (India) – RS 30 lakh, Digvesh Singh (India) – RS 30 lakh, Himmat Singh (India) – RS 30 lakh, Aryan Juyal (India) – RS 30 lakh.

PREDICTED XI: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran, David Miller, Ayush Badoni, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Avesh Khan, Mayank Yadav. Impact – Abdul Samad.

Published By:

Akshay Ramesh

Published On:

Nov 26, 2024

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Gujarat Titans – 10/10

Mumbai Indians – 9/10

Punjab Kings – 9/10

DELHI CAPITALS – 8.5/10

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU (7.5/10)

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD (7/10)

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS (7.5/10)

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS (7/10)

RAJASTHAN ROYALS (6/10)

LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS (5.5/10)

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