On the first day of the mega auction of IPL 2025, huge amounts of money were spent on many players. While franchises are spending heavily on Indian players, most teams seem to be avoiding placing big bids on foreign names.
While players like David Warner remained unsold, KKR spent a lot of money on Venkatesh Iyer. Let us tell you who were those five players on whom it rained money on the first day.
Rishabh Pant
Even before the start of the mega auction, it was believed that the highest bid could be made in the name of Rishabh Pant and that is exactly what happened. As soon as Pant’s name came up, there was a race among the franchises to include the Indian wicketkeeper in the team. There was a tough competition for Pant between Lucknow Super Giants, Delhi Capitals, RCB and Sunrisers Hyderabad. But ultimately Baji Lucknow had to bow down and included Pant in the team at a price of Rs 27 crore. Pant has become the most expensive player sold in the auction in IPL history.
Shreyas Iyer
Captain Shreyas Iyer, who led Kolkata Knight Riders to the championship last season, also got a lot of money. There was tough competition for Iyer at the auction table. KKR and Lucknow Super Giants tried their best to nab the Indian batsman, but eventually Punjab Kings signed Iyer with a bid of Rs 26.75 crore.
Venkatesh Iyer
KKR could not include Shreyas Iyer in the team and spent lavishly on Venkatesh Iyer. A bidding war broke out between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata on the name of Venkatesh. But in the end KKR bought Venkatesh for Rs. Managed to win another Rs 23.75 crore.
Yuzvendra Chahal
Yuzvendra Chahal may be leaving the Indian team, but his impact has not been seen in the mega auction of IPL 2025. There were many bids on Chahal’s name and finally Punjab Kings included him in their team by paying a huge amount of Rs 18 crores. Chahal has also become the most expensive spinner in IPL history.
Arshdeep Singh
This year, there was a tough competition among the franchises to include Arshdeep Singh, the bowler who took the highest wicket in T20 International, in the team. Sunrisers Hyderabad made the final bid of Rs 15.75 crore for Arshdeep, but Punjab Kings used the right-to-match card. After this, Hyderabad made a bid of Rs 18 crore for Arshdeep, which was accepted by Punjab and with the help of RTM, Arshdeep was again included in the team.
