The IPL Mega Auction, an event that will turn cricketers from around the world into millionaires, will be held today (24) and tomorrow (25) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 641.50 crore rupees will be bid on 577 players. 10 teams have to buy a total of 204 players.
Know everything about mega auction in 10 questions…
Question-1: When is the mega auction, heard that it is in Jeddah, why is it there? What is the difference between a mega auction and a normal auction? And where can it be seen? Answer: Yes heard absolutely right. The mega auction of IPL will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The auction will start on November 24 at 3 PM. Bidding will last till 8pm, bidding for remaining players will start from 3pm the next day.
BCCI has been trying to make the mega auction abroad a global event for some time now. The last auction was also held in Dubai. Earlier all auctions were held in India.
The mega auction is held once in 3 years, the last auction was held before the 2022 IPL. A team can retain very few players in a mega auction. This time there was a limit of retaining 6 players.
A mini auction takes place in between the mega auction, in which the team can retain more players. Only mini auction was held for 2023 and 2024 IPL. You can watch the auction on TV on 'Star Sports Channel' and online on 'Jio Cinema'. Also, you can follow its live coverage on the Frontpage Insights app.
Question-2: Who is participating in the auction, how many players will be bid on? Answer: All 10 IPL franchises along with their management team will participate in the auction. 1574 players registered to participate in the mega auction. Out of which 577 players were shortlisted, the team showed interest in buying them. In which there are 367 Indian and 210 foreign players. Out of which 4 players are from Associate countries. 331 players are uncapped, of which 319 are from India and 12 from overseas.
Question 3: How much money does each team have to bid, is the amount different for each team? Answer: The IPL committee has given a purse limit of Rs 120 crore to the team. That means the team can spend this much money to buy their 18 to 25 players. With this much money, the team had to retain their top players too. After the retention expires, Punjab Kings are owed a maximum of Rs 110.50 crore. Teams that retain more players have less money left in their purses.
Punjab itself has the highest number of vacancies for 23 players. After him, 22 players in Bengaluru and 21 players in Delhi will be filled. Rajasthan have the least amount due at Rs 41 crore and only 19 players are vacant in the squad.
Question 4: What is this Right to Match i.e. RTM card, what are its rules, who has how many cards? Answer: Teams that have retained less than 6 players will get Right to Match i.e. RTM cards in the auction. With the RTM card, the team will be able to include the previous player in the team.
Let's understand RTM with an example, suppose Glenn Maxwell, who was part of RCB last season, was sold by MI in the auction for Rs. 7 crores bid was bought. Now RCB can keep Maxwell with them using the RTM card if they want.
However, this time MI will also have the option of increasing the bid for Maxwell. After exercising the RTM, MI can also bid Rs 10 crore on Maxwell. Now, if RCB wants to keep Maxwell with them, they will have to pay Rs 10 crore. Along with this, one of their RTM cards will be used. If RCB refuses, Maxwell will go to MI for Rs 10 crore.
Punjab Kings retained only 2 players, so the team will now be able to buy 4 players from the team in the auction with RTM cards. Bengaluru will have 3 and Delhi will have 2 RTM cards in the auction. Hyderabad and Rajasthan do not have a single RTM card, while the remaining 5 teams have 1 RTM card.
Question- 5: Will international and domestic players be bid together? What does 79 sets mean in an auction? Answer: Names of players who have played international cricket will come first. There will be 45 capped players in 7 sets, followed by uncapped players. 577 players are divided into 79 different sets. A set consists of 5 to 8 players. There are 45 international players in the first 7 sets. Players will be selected in the order of marquee player, batsman, bowler, wicketkeeper, fast bowler and spinner.
Set numbers 8 to 12 will have a total of 38 uncapped players. Their series will also be the same as Batter, Bowler, Wicketkeeper, Pacer and Spinner. From the 13th set, the names of the next players will appear in the same order and the set will repeat until the players in that category are eliminated. The first set will be bidding on marquee i.e. top players and the last set will be bidding on uncapped all-rounders.
Question- 6: Which players will be bid first in the auction? When will the auction speed increase? Answer: Jos Buttler, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh and Mitchell Starc are named in Set-1. One of these players will be named first.
There are 116 top players in 17 sets. This means that the team will have more time to think about buying players. The speed of the auction will increase as soon as the name of the player number 117 comes. That means the team will have to bid quickly for the 117th player. The auctioneer will not spend much time on players numbered 117 to 577.
Question- 7: What is the base price of the players, how many players are there in which base price? Answer: A base price is a fixed price, a player's bidding in an auction starts from his base price. Rs 30 lakh is the smallest base price, while Rs 2 crore is the highest base price. There are 82 names of players in the base prize of 2 crores. There are 27 players at 1.50 crore, 18 players at 1.25 crore and 23 players at the base price of 1 crore. Apart from this, there are 427 players in the base price of 75 lakhs, 50 lakhs, 40 lakhs and 30 lakhs.
Question- 8: Who will conduct the auction, who will operate the auction hammer? Answer: BCCI and IPL committee will conduct this auction jointly. The host of the auction is Mallika Sagar, who will swing the gavel. He also held the last auction. Before that, Hughes was doing Adam's auction.
When a team bids on a player, the auctioneer announces the player's price increase. Finally, when the highest bid is received, the auctioneer slams the hammer on the desk and sells the player to the team. This completes the auction process.
Mallika Sagar will host the auction.
Question- 9: Is there any limit to buy domestic and foreign players? Which foreigner can buy the most? Answer: Yes, of course it is. A team can buy a maximum of 8 foreign players, as a maximum of 4 foreigners can play in the playing-11 of a match. There are 18 to 25 players in the squad, to fill which the team has to buy 8 foreign players along with the rest of the domestic players.
Mumbai, Punjab and Bengaluru have not retained a single foreign player, so the team can buy 8 foreign players. Hyderabad has retained maximum 3 foreign players, so the team can buy only 5 foreign players. A total of 70 foreign players will be bought in the auction.
Question- 10: What will happen after the auction? When and where will the next season of IPL be held? Answer: After the auction ends after 204 players are sold, all franchises will prepare their respective squads with new players. Preparations will be started with the players who will not be on national duty from next January.
A total of 74 matches will be played between 10 teams in the 2025 IPL. The 18th season of the tournament will start from March 14 and will run till May 25. The 2024 IPL was played 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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The mega auction of IPL 2025 will be held on November 24 (today) and 25 (tomorrow). The event will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. There are 577 players in the auction, although only 204 players are available in 10 teams. Big names like Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Glenn Maxwell will also enter the auction, for which the team could spend Rs 20 to 30 crore. …
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
