Cricket news: Six talking points from the IPL auction: Pant, Bairstow and more

As India were producing a dominant performance to thrash Australia in Perth and take a 1-0 lead in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, 574 players went under the hammer in Saudi Arabia as squads for the 2025 Indian Premier League were finalised at the Mega Auction.

In total, 12 England players were sold for a combined 70.25 crore (£6.6m) and Sports News Blitz writer Dom Harris dissects the key takeaways from the two-day event.

Bethell, Carse and Overton earn first IPL deals

Jacob Bethell’s memorable year continued as he landed his first IPL contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore at 2.6 crore.

The 21-year-old, who is already due for a stint in the Big Bash League with the Melbourne Renegades next month, enjoyed an impressive start to life in an England shirt with a number of eye-catching displays against the West Indies and is currently with the Test squad in New Zealand.

Big-hitting all-rounders Brydon Carse (1 crore) and Jamie Overton (1.5 crore) also secured maiden deals with Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings respectively.

New beginnings for England stars

With no England players retained ahead of the auction, the services of all their in-demand players were up for grabs.

White-ball captain Jos Buttler was the highest-paid overseas player, selling in set 1 of the auction for 15.75 crore (£1.4m) to 2022 winners Gujarat Titans which ended a seven-year association with Rajasthan Royals.

Jofra Archer (Rajasthan Royals) and Sam Curran (Chennai Super Kings) both returned to former franchises – Archer a late addition to the auction earning in excess of £1m (12.5 crore) after a bidding war with Mumbai Indians, whilst Curran received a significant pay cut (2.4 crore) from the 18.5 crore which made him the most expensive player in 2023.

Will Jacks (5.25 crore) and Reece Topley (75 lakh) were both acquired by Mumbai Indians after time at Royal Challengers Bangalore – RCB perhaps expected to use their Right-To-Match on the English opening batter, but instead opted to spend big to secure the services of Phil Salt (11.5 crore) and Liam Livingstone (8.75 crore) to link up with Virat Kohli and England team-mate Bethell under former England head coach Andy Flower.

Harry Brook, who withdrew from the 2024 edition due to a family bereavement, was re-signed by Delhi Capitals for 6.25 crore, whilst former England international Moeen Ali was a late pick up for his base price (2 crore) by defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders after three years with Chennai Super Kings.

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Rishabh Pant breaks record as India internationals go big

Explosive wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player in IPL history as he was signed by Lucknow Super Giants for a staggering 27 crore (£2.54m).

After eight seasons with the Delhi Capitals, who showed strong interest in re-signing the 27-year-old, Pant – who missed the entirety of 2023 following a serious car accident – joins a LSG side which also contains fellow left-hand power hitters Nicholas Pooran and David Miller.

Shreyas Iyer, who led Kolkata Knight Riders to the title earlier this year, had held that record moments earlier when Punjab Kings forked out 26.75 crore for the middle-order batter to surpass the 24.75 crore paid by KKR for Mitchell Starc last year – the Australian signed by Delhi Capitals for 11.75 crore this time around.

Punjab weren’t finished there and went big on boosting their bowling attack, immediately using their Right-to-Match card at 18 crore to retain the in-demand left-arm swing bowler Arshdeep Singh.

Eighteen crore was also the price they paid for experienced leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who is the competition's all-time leading wicket-taker with 205 scalps.

After losing Shreyas Iyer, Kolkata Knight Riders were keen to keep hold of one of their key performers from the last campaign and splurged a surprisingly hefty 23.75 crore for all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer to return.

Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals will feel the 14-crore figure for classy top order batter KL Rahul represents good value.

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Bargain buys for overseas talent

With huge amounts of money splashed on marquee players grabbing the headlines, several teams were also able to snap up high-profile names for seemingly reasonable prices.

None more so than Tim David, with Royal Challengers Bangalore paying only 3 crore for the destructive Australian finisher who has experience in T20 franchise leagues around the world.

Glenn Maxwell cost Punjab Kings just 4.2 crore, one of five Australians recruited by Ricky Ponting, whilst South African opener Quinton de Kock – who has over 100 IPL appearances – was snapped up by Kolkata Knight Riders for a modest 3.6 crore.

The likes of Faf Du Plessis (Delhi Capitals), Aiden Markram (Lucknow Super Giants), Glenn Phillips (Gujarat Titans), Mitchell Santner (Mumbai Indians), Rovman Powell (Kolkata Knight Riders) and Romario Shepherd (Royal Challengers Bangalore) were all signed at their respective base prices.

Who went unsold?

Jonny Bairstow was the biggest English name to go unsold. Despite earning a fresh central contract, Bairstow has fallen down the pecking order at international level and will not have an IPL deal for the first time since making his debut in 2019.

James Anderson, now 42, failed to receive any takers after surprisingly throwing his name into the hat, despite more than 15 years since his last T20 international appearance.

Adil Rashid was once again victim to market demand, whilst Ben Duckett and Gus Atkinson could perhaps consider themselves unfortunate not to attract any bids.

Elsewhere, three-time orange cap and 2016 title-winning captain David Warner went unsold, as did Australian team-mate Steve Smith and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.

Crafty pace bowlers Naveen-ul-Haq and Mustafizur Rahman were both surprisingly overlooked, despite impressive performances in the recent T20 World Cup and previous IPL seasons.

Prithvi Shaw, Shardul Thakur and Shivam Mavi headlined the list of domestic players ignored given their vast levels of IPL and international experience – a major fall from grace for 25-year-old Shaw, a former U19 World Cup-winning captain and the youngest player to make a debut Test century, who has struggled for form in recent years and faced a number of off-field issues.

Young teenage batter receives contract

Perhaps the biggest headline of the mega auction was 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who was remarkably picked up by the Rajasthan Royals for 1.1 crore (£105,000), led by former Indian great Rahul Dravid.

The left-handed opener made headlines by scoring a 58-ball century for India U19s in a youth Test match against Australia two months ago - and was at the subject of a bidding war between the Royals and Delhi Capitals.

The next edition of the Indian Premier League gets underway on March 14, 2025.

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