IPL Mega Auction, the event that will make millionaires of cricketers around the world, will be held on November 24-25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Bidding worth Rs 641.50 crore will be made on 577 players. 10 teams must purchase a total of 204 players.
Find out everything about mega auctions in 10 questions…
Question 1: When is the mega auction, I heard it’s in Jeddah, why is it there? Tell me, what is the difference between a mega-auction and a normal auction? And where can we see it? Answer: I heard absolutely correctly. The IPL mega auction will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The auction will begin on November 24 at 3 p.m. The auction will take place until 8 p.m., the remaining players will start selling from 3 p.m. the next day.
The BCCI has been trying for the last few years to organize the mega auction abroad to make it a global event. The latest auction also took place in Dubai. Before this, all auctions were held only in India.
The mega auction is held once in 3 years, the last auction was held before IPL 2022. Teams can retain very few players in the mega auction. This time there was a retention limit of 6 players.
There are mini-auctions between the mega-auctions, in which teams can retain more players. Only mini auctions were held for IPL 2023 and 2024. You can watch the auction on TV on ‘Star Sports Channel’ and online on ‘Jio Cinema’. You can also follow his live coverage on the Indianewsget app.
Question 2: Who is participating in the auction, for how many players will the auction be offered? Answer: All 10 IPL franchises will participate in the auction with their management team. 1,574 players had registered to participate in the mega auction. Among the 577 players pre-selected, teams have expressed interest in purchasing them. Among them, there are 367 Indian players and 210 foreigners. Among them, 4 players come from associated countries. 331 players are uncapped, including 319 Indians and 12 foreigners.
Question 3: How much should each team bid, is the amount different for each team? Answer: The IPL committee has given a purse limit of Rs 120 crore to the teams. This means that teams can spend so much money to buy their 18-25 players. With so much money, the team also had to retain its best players. After the retention ends, Punjab Kings are left with the maximum amount of Rs 110.50 crore. Teams that retained more players also have less money in their purses.
The maximum number of seats for 23 players is vacant in Punjab itself. After them, the places of 22 players in Bengaluru and 21 players in Delhi will be filled. Rajasthan have the least Rs 41 crore and only 19 players have vacancies in the team.
Question 4: What is this right to match, that is to say the RTM card, what are its rules, who has how many cards? Answer: All teams who have selected less than 6 players will obtain the match right, i.e. an RTM card during the auction. With the RTM card, teams will be able to retain the previous player included in the squad.
Let’s understand RTM with an example, suppose Glenn Maxwell, who was part of RCB last season, was bought by MI in the auction by bidding Rs 7 crore. Now, if RCB wants, they can keep Maxwell with them using the RTM card.
However, this time MI will also have the opportunity to increase their offer for Maxwell. After using RTM, MI can also offer Rs 10 crore on Maxwell. Now if RCB wants to keep Maxwell with them, they will have to pay Rs 10 crore. With this, one of their RTM cards will be used. If RCB refuses, Maxwell will go to MI for Rs 10 crore.
Punjab Kings have retained only 2 players, so the team can now buy 4 players from the team in the auction via the RTM card. Bengaluru will have 3 RTM cards and Delhi will have 2 RTM cards up for auction. Hyderabad and Rajasthan do not have a single RTM card, while the remaining 5 teams still have 1-1 RTM card.
Question 5: Will the auctions cover international and national players simultaneously? What does 79 sets mean in an auction? Answer: The names of players who have played international cricket will come first. There will be 45 capped players divided into 7 sets, followed by the uncapped players. The 577 players are divided into 79 different sets. There are 5 to 8 players in a set. There are 45 international players in the first 7 sets. The players will be selected from the sequence of marquee player, batsman, bowler, wicketkeeper, fast bowler and spinner.
There will be a total of 38 uncapped players from set number 8 to 12. Their sequence will also consist of a batsman, a bowler, a wicketkeeper, a pacer and a spinner. From the 13th set onwards, the names of other players will appear in the same order and the sets will repeat until the players in that category are eliminated. In the first set, bidding will be done on marquee players i.e. top players and in the final set bidding will be done on uncapped all-rounders.
Question 6: Which players will be the first to bet during the auction? When will auction speed increase? Answer: The names of Jos Buttler, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh and Mitchell Starc are in set-1. The name of one of these players will come first.
There are 116 top players divided into 17 sets. This means teams will have more time to think about buying players. The speed of the auction will be increased as soon as the name of player number 117 is known. This means teams will have to bid quickly for the 117th player. The auctioneer will not focus much on players numbered 117 to 577.
Question 7: What is the base price of players, how many players are there in which base price? Answer: The base price is a fixed price, the player’s bids in the auction start from his base price. Rs 30 lakh is the lowest base price, while Rs 2 crore is the highest base price. There are names of 82 players in the base price of Rs 2 crore. There are 27 players in 1.50 crore, 18 players in 1.25 crore and 23 players in the base price of 1 crore. Apart from these, there are 427 players at the base price of 75 lakh, 50 lakh, 40 lakh and 30 lakh.
Question 8: Who will run the auction, who will wield the gavel? Answer: BCCI and IPL committee will jointly conduct this auction. The host of the auction is Mallika Sagar, who will wield the gavel. He also hosted the last auction. Before him, Hughes ran Adams Auctions.
When teams bid on a player, the auctioneer announces the player’s price as it increases. Finally, when the highest bid is received, the auctioneer bangs the gavel on the desk, says it’s sold, and sells that player to the team. In this way, the auction process is completed.
Mallika Sagar will conduct the auction.
Question 9: Is there a limit on purchasing domestic and foreign players? Which team can buy the most foreigners? Answer: Yes, of course. A team can only buy a maximum of 8 foreign players, as only a maximum of 4 foreigners can play in the 11th of the match. The team has between 18 and 25 players, for which teams must purchase 8 foreigners along with the remaining domestic players.
Mumbai, Punjab and Bengaluru have not retained a single foreign player, so these teams can buy 8-8 foreigners. Hyderabad has retained a maximum of 3 foreign players, so the team can only buy 5 foreign players. A total of 70 foreign players will be purchased at the auction.
Question 10: What will happen after the auction? When and where will the next IPL season take place? Answer: The auction will end once 204 players are sold, all franchises will prepare their respective teams with new players. Preparations will begin with players who will not be on national duty from January next year.
A total of 74 matches will be played between 10 teams in IPL 2025. The 18th edition of the tournament will begin on March 14 and continue until May 25. The IPL 2024 took place from March 22 to May 26. Under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer, Kolkata Knight Riders won the title by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final.
Graphics: Kunal Sharma
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Will the ₹30 crore barrier be crossed in the IPL auction?
The IPL 2025 mega auction will take place on November 24-25. The event takes place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. There are 577 players up for auction, although there are only 204 vacant players remaining across all 10 teams. Big names like Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Glenn Maxwell will also participate in the auction, for which teams can spend Rs 20-30 crore.