What were the biggest shocks from the IPL 2025 mega auction?

With franchises fighting toe-to-toe to acquire some of the biggest names in their setup, there were some very big shocks from the IPL 2025 mega auction, and we have it all here covered for you.

Nandre Burger’s omission at the IPL Auction

One of the most threatening new-ball bowlers in modern-day cricket, Nandre Burger went two days at the IPL mega auction without his name being called up. 

Burger, who previously represented the Royals, was supposed to be one of the big left-arm pacers at the auction. However, the 29-year-old was never called up, leaving many fans shocked. 

The left-arm pacer has played 69 T20s, where he has an impressive record - 77 wickets at an E.R of 7.73. Imagine having such a record only for ten franchises to ignore you altogether, a year after you put on a show at the Wankhede Stadium against Mumbai Indians.

RCB utilising their RTM card on Swapnil Singh

Holding on to the Right-to-Match (RTM) card only to use it for Swapnil Singh, to get him at INR 50 lakh. 

Does a move get more RCB than this? A franchise known for making curious calls from one auction to another continued to surprise everyone with its decision making. Notably, at the mega auction, RCB did not use its RTM on all of Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammed Siraj. 

Bidding war for Eshan Malinga

Were you expecting a bidding war for Eshan Malinga? 

First, did you honestly know who Eshan is? The 23-year-old not only earned himself an IPL contract but also drew a bidding war between two franchises - Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad. The latter eventually forced the auctioneer to nail the hammer at INR 1.2 crore with their 17th bid. 

For additional information, Eshan has played just 13 T20s in his career and might have caught the attention of the scouts during the Emerging Asia Cup, where he picked up six wickets with an average of 20.33. 

What about Bevan-John Jacobs going to MI?

'Who is Bevan-John Jacobs?" was on the lips of the Paltans as the five-time IPL winners raised their paddle for the exciting 22-year-old Kiwi cricketer. We all would be kidding if we said we expected the Auckland cricketer to get a bid. 

Read: How Bevon-John Jacobs thought MI’s big IPL gig was a prank

Because honestly, no one really knew him before MI’s first and only bid of INR 30 lakh. Across nine T20s in his career, Jacobs has only scored 134 runs, striking at 188.73. The right-handed batter was perhaps scouted at the KFC Max 60 in Queensland, where he smashed 100 off 40 balls in one of the games.

Shardul Thakur going unsold

At the start of day two’s auction, if you had told someone that Bhuvneshwar Kumar was going to go for INR 10.75 crore and Shardul Thakur was going to be unsold, they would have laughed then and there. 

But the reality was such that Shardul went *UNSOLD*

And it was as shocking as some of the big bids from the 2025 mega auction. After all, we are talking about a bowler who has won multiple IPLs and picked up 94 IPL wickets in his career going unsold. 

Vaibhav Suryavanshi becoming a crorepati

What were you doing at the age of XYZ? 

A question that is often asked when a youngster has broken through substantially at the highest level. Now you have a 13-year-old earning INR 1.1 crore at an IPL mega auction despite only playing one T20 in his entire career. 

We are talking about a franchise where the openers are Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal. These are some of the deals that really leave you in a state of complete shock. 

You can take any IPL auction bingo, and there’s no chance that you’d have this on it. 

Karim Janat getting a bid

Prior to the auction, if we'd told you that Karim Janat was going to be sold, you would have asked us to stop fooling around. It was one of the most bizarre purchases in the competition's history.

The 26-year-old hardly has noteworthy T20I numbers, averaging just 16.33 with the bat. He has taken 42 wickets but at an economy over 8.15, and has not set the stage light in any of the other franchise leagues. Considering that, it's quite the shock that Janat got purchased by the Titans.

Especially in an auction where some top overseas options went unsold. Ummm, such is the auction dynamics. 

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