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Follow UsIndian pacers continue to be the most in-demand prototype
At the IPL 2022 mega auction, jaws dropped, seeing the kind of money franchises were willing to shell out to Indian speedsters.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) paid 14 cr for Deepak Chahar; RCB gave 10.75 cr to Harshal Patel after not retaining him, and DC spent 10.75 cr on Shardul Thakur. Even the inexperienced ones, such as Prasidh Krishna and Avesh Khan, went for 10 cr a piece, while Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) spent 7.5 cr to buy Shivam Mavi.
The trend continued this time around, too, as Indian quicks sold like hot cake and went for massive sums.
Arshdeep Singh was the first player sold at the auction, and he fetched 18 cr. Chahar, despite being 32 and past his peak, was bought for 8.25 cr, while the duo of Avesh and Prasidh once again fetched a combined 19.25 cr. Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami both cost more than 10 cr, as did Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who cost 10.75 cr (over 2x of what he got in IPL 2022).
Mukesh Kumar went for 8 cr, while Tushar Deshpande, who is not a tier 1 seamer, was bought by RR for 6.50 cr. Even before the auction, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) had retained Mayank Yadav for INR 11 crore.
So if you’re an Indian who wants to play in the IPL and get rich quickly while doing so, just make sure you bowl pace.
Franchises look beyond Indian veterans’ age; continue to spend a fortune on them
At the IPL 2022 auction, 35-year-old Ravichandran Ashwin was bought for 5 cr, while 32-year-old Bhuvneshwar was bought for 4.20 cr.
Fast-forward to 2025. A 38-year-old Ashwin has just been bought for 9.75 cr, while Bhuvneshwar, who is 34 now, has ended up fetching 10.75 cr.
If there was one thing evident from this mega auction, it was that teams were more than happy to disregard the age of the Indian veterans. In general, you expect older players (even if they are very experienced) not to fetch outrageous amounts, especially if there are question marks over their fitness or fears that they might be well past their peak. But that wasn’t the case in this auction.
Not just these two aforementioned names, even Deepak Chahar (who is 32 and has a history of injury issues) fetched 9.25 cr, which is quite the fee considering he picked just 5 wickets in 8 games in IPL 2024 and is past his prime.
Shami (34) also has question marks over fitness, and his fitness is closer to the end than the start, but he fetched 10 cr, with as many as four teams bidding for him.
Teams don’t go all-in on overseas veterans just because of reputation
Unlike the Indian veterans, there was not much luck for overseas veterans, with franchises either opting not to shell out big bucks or not purchasing them at all just because of the individual’s name and reputation.
David Warner (38) ended up going unsold for the first time in IPL history, while the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Nabi and Jason Holder didn’t even make it to the final auction shortlist.
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Glenn Maxwell has historically fetched ludicrous amounts regardless of his form, but this time around, the veteran went for just 4.20 cr. It might have to do a lot with both his age (36) and the fact that he had a stinker of a year in IPL 2024, where he averaged an eye-watering 5.78.
Not just Maxwell, but someone like a Faf du Plessis was also bought for his base price (2 cr) despite being in terrific form, likely due to his age (40). Meanwhile the likes of Jonny Bairstow, Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell all went unsold.
Impact player rule seems to have brought down the value of overseas all-rounders
At the IPL 2022 mega auction, overseas all-rounders proved to be king. Jason Holder got purchased for 8.75 cr while his countrymen Romario Shepherd and Odean Smith fetched 7.75 cr and 6.00 cr respectively.
Marcus Stoinis was signed before the auction by LSG for 9.2 cr, while Liam Livingstone proved to be one of the most expensive buys of that year, with PBKS purchasing him for 11.5 cr. Mitchell Marsh, meanwhile, was bought for 6.50 cr by Delhi Capitals.
Plus, ahead of the IPL 2022 auction, CSK retained Moeen Ali for 8 cr while at the auction table, they paid 4.40 cr for a then 39-year-old Dwayne Bravo.
Here at the IPL 2025 auction, the most expensive overseas all-rounder was Stoinis at 11 cr. He and Livingstone (who at 8.75 cr took an almost 3 cr pay cut from the last mega auction) were the only expensive all-rounders.
The likes of Marsh (3.40 cr), Sam Curran (2.40 cr), and Shepherd (1.50 cr) all came at extremely low prices. Even Marco Jansen, by some distance the best bowling all-rounder available to be purchased, cost only 7 cr, which was 75 lakh less than what Shepherd had cost at the mega auction three years ago.
Teams consciously go after overseas spin-hitters
It was a mega auction dominated by Indians, but we did see a decent amount of traction for foreign batters renowned for their spin hitting.
Jacob Bethell (2.60 cr), Josh Inglis (2.60 cr) and Sherfane Rutherford (2.60 cr) did not fetch crazy amounts but all of these players got picked up in the auction, likely due to franchises rating them highly for their ability to be able to tackle spin batting in the middle-order.
Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians fought to secure the services of Will Jacks (5.25 cr) while the Kings also got their hands on Azmatullah Omarzai.
Even at the accelerated auction, two of the batters who got picked up right at the very end (Glenn Phillips and Moeen Ali) were both individuals renowned for their ability to hit spin in the middle-overs.
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