The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has unveiled key details regarding the IPL 2025 mega auction, scheduled to take place on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah. A major highlight of this year’s auction is the introduction of two marquee player sets, each featuring 8–9 players, a format last seen in the 2014 and 2018 auctions.
According to Cricbuzz, marquee players like Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, R Ashwin, Mitchell Starc, and Jos Buttler are likely to headline these sets. The base price for each marquee player has been set at INR 2 crore.
The marquee sets are expected to play a pivotal role in the auction dynamics, with franchises likely to allocate 30-50% of their budget early to secure at least two star players. This approach underscores the criticality of marquee players in shaping team strategies for the upcoming season.
The auction pool for IPL 2025 is one of the largest in the tournament’s history, featuring 1,574 registered players. This includes 1,165 Indian players and 409 overseas players.
Indian Players: Among the Indian contingent, 48 are capped, 152 are uncapped but have IPL experience, and 965 are uncapped without prior IPL exposure.
Overseas Players: The pool includes 320 capped players, 1,224 uncapped players, and 30 from Associate nations.
The final list of players will be determined after franchises submit their preferences from the initial register. The deadline for submitting these preferences was November 12.
Ahead of the auction, IPL franchises have retained 46 players, leaving ample room for squads to undergo significant transformations. If each franchise opts for the maximum squad size of 25 players, up to 204 players, including 70 overseas names, could be picked during the two-day event.
With the auction taking place mid-cycle between two World Cups, the emphasis on marquee players reflects franchises’ intent to build solid cores around experienced performers. The availability of two marquee sets mirrors the increasing competition among franchises to secure high-impact players early in the auction.
The BCCI is expected to announce the exact bidding order and finalize the marquee player list shortly, further intensifying the anticipation surrounding one of the most awaited events in the cricketing calendar.
For franchises and fans alike, the IPL 2025 mega auction promises to be a game-changer as teams strategize to balance marquee acquisitions with prudent budget management.
