We look at the major talking points and trends and patterns of the mega auction

Pant & the Iyers – the 20 Crore Boys

Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer broke the bank at the mega auction and were the three players who crossed the magical figure of INR 20 crore. Shreyas was the first one to be picked and he went for a whopping INR 26.75 crore to Punjab Kings making him the most expensive player in IPL auction history! He broke the record of Mitchell Starc who was purchased by Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 24.75 crore at the mini-auction in Dubai last year.

The high price for Shreyas was as much for his leadership qualities as for his role as playmaker in the middle-order. Shreyas was the captain of the victorious KKR franchise who lifted the IPL trophy this season. Hehad an aggregate of 351 runs in IPL 2024 at an impressive strike rate of 146.9 and has been a consistent run-getter in the tournament with an aggregate of 400-plus runs in five editions – in 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. Shreyas hammered a brilliant 130 off just 57 deliveries for Mumbai in the 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament just a day before the auction.

There was more drama at the auction when another marquee player – Pant –surpassed Shreyas as Lucknow Super Giants outbid Delhi Capitals,evenovercoming an RTM from the franchise. LSG paid a staggering INR 27 crore for Pant. After parting ways with KL Rahul, the Capitals were in need of an Indian wicket-keeper batter who could also lead the franchise and Pant was the ideal choice.

Interestingly, Pant does not have a great record for India in T20I cricket –he has an average of 23.25 and strike rate of 127.3 in 66 appearances for the country with barely any impact performances with the bat. Even in the IPL, Pant was at his destructive best between 2017 and 2019 when he blasted 1538 runs in 44 innings at an average of 38.45 and strike rate of 168. His fortunes saw a dramatic decline thereafter for the next few editions. However, Pant regained a bit of his old flair this season in the IPL in which he scored 446 runs at a rate of 155.4.

The real surprise of the auction was the price dished out by KKR Venkatesh Iyer – a stunning INR 23.75 crore! Venkatesh’s home-coming to the franchise was as much about retaining their core players for KKR as much as the versatile role he can play as a batter. Venkatesh was an integral part of KKR’s aggressive batting template last season and smashed 370 runs at a strike rate of close to 160! However, given that he delivered just a single over in the entire season and did not bowl at all in IPL 2023, KKR may have exceeded their budget for Venkatesh Iyer - thesingle-skilled player.

Yuvraj Singh was the most expensive Indian player ever previously at the auction. He was bought by the Delhi Daredevils for INR 16 crore in 2015.

Truly an ‘INDIAN’ Premier League

Indian players were much in demand at the mega auction in Jeddah. The five top buys – Pant, Shreyas, Venkatesh, Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal – were all Indians. Arshdeep and Chahal were both picked by PBKS for INR 18 crore each.

There were as many as 12 players from India in the INR 10 crore-plus bracket while only nine combined from overseas. Curiously, there were none from West Indies (and Sri Lanka) in this category. Overseas players going at a premium was a trend in the past but clearly ‘local’ was the new King at the mega auction this time around!

Only twice before in IPL auction history have the top 3 purchases all been Indians – in 2011 and 2022! In that way, it was truly a historic auction in Jeddah.

Low price for overseas superstars

The other big talking point of the auction was the relatively low price paid to some of the big names in international and franchise T20 cricket. David Miller, Harry Brook, Glenn Maxwell, Quinton de Kock, Liam Livingstone, Faf du Plessis, Rovman Powell, Tim David, Sam Curran, Will Jacks and Sherfane Rutherford were some of the overseas stars who went quite cheaply at the auction.

West Indian T20I captain and a T20 specialist, Powell, was bought by KKR at his base price of INR 1.5 crore while hard-hitting David – one of the most destructive finishers in T20 cricket – was sold to RCB for just INR 3 crore. The biggest surprise in this category was the shockingly low price paid by DC for Du Plessis – he was purchased at his base price of INR 2 crore! Faf is one of the finest batters in IPL history and has scored 4571 runs at an average of 36 and strike rate of 136.4. He had a good season for RCB in 2024 hammering 438 runs at a rate of almost 162!

Indian pacers bag big bucks

Indian pacers were more sought after on Day 2 at the auction. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the most expensive buy and was picked by RCB for INR 10.75 crore. Kumar led the SRH attack for nearly a decade and was their leading wicket-taker with 157 dismissals at a strike rate of 20.8 and economy of 7.7.

Deepak Chahar was sold to Mumbai Indians (MI) for INR 9.25 crore while Akash Deep went to LSG for INR 8 crore. Mukesh Kumar was purchased by Delhi Capitals (DC) for INR 8 crore while Tushar Deshpande – the highest wicket-taker for CSK last season with 17 dismissals – was bought by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) for INR 6.5 crore.

In contrast, some big-ticket overseas pacers did not receive a hefty pay cheque. Spencer Johnson went to KKR for a measly sum of INR 2.8 crore while Lockie Ferguson was taken by PBKS at his base price of INR 2 crore. South African quick, Gerald Coetzee, ranked amongst the fastest bowlers in the world, was snapped by the Gujarat Titans (GT) for just INR 2.4 crore while Nathan Ellis was bought by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for a paltry INR 2 crore.

Interestingly, leg spinners (or any sort of spinners) did not attract the big bucks at the auction. With the exception of Chahal, there was no other spinner in the top 20 buys across the two days in Jeddah.

All-rounders bear brunt of Impact Player Rule

All-rounders, especially fast-bowling all-rounders who could hit the long ball, were a much sought-after bunch not ago in the IPL. However, the Impact Player Rule, introduced in the league in 2023, has diminished the role of the bit and pieces all-rounder and instead the focus has now shifted on the specialists.

Thus, it was not surprising to see a number of top-notch all-rounders going for extremely low prices at the mega auction. Vijay Shankar (INR 1.2 crore), Mitchell Marsh (INR 3.4 crore), Washington Sundar (INR 3.2 crore), Sam Curran (INR 2.4 crore), Deepak Hooda (INR 1.7 crore), Moeen Ali (INR 2 crore) and Romario Shepherd (INR 1.5 crore) were some of the big all-rounders who were massively undervalued at the auction.

Warner goes unsold

One of the greatest batters in IPL history – David Warner – went unsold at the mega auction. This was one of the major talking points in Jeddah. Warner is an all-time IPL great and the highest run-getter amongst overseas batters in the league’s history! He has scored in excess of 500 runs in as many as seven editions.

Some other big-wigs who remained unsold wereJonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Finn Allen, Brandon King, Steven Smith, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Adil Rashid, Naveen-ul-Haq, Kyle Jamieson, Chris Jordan, Shardul Thakur, Daryl Mitchell, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein and Sikandar Raza.

Naveen-ul-Haq was the otherbig surprise on this list. Some experts had predicted him to be amongst the most sought-after overseas buys at the mega auction. Naveen has a brilliant record in all T20 cricket with 246 dismissals in 204 outings at a strike rate of 17.5.