The Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction for the upcoming season will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As per a report in PTI, the development was confirmed by BCCI sources, who added that November 24 and 25 are the likely dates.
"The IPL auctions will be held in Riyadh and it has been notified to the franchises. The likely dates are November 24 and 25," a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
The auction will see several high profile stars, including Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Arshdeep Singh, go under the hammer. All ten franchises will collectively have around Rs 641.5 crore to spend for 204 slots that are available. Out of those 204 slots, 70 are earmarked for overseas players.
The franchises had announced their retentions on Thursday. A total of 46 players have been retained by the 10 franchises with cumulative expenditure of Rs 558.5 crore.
IPL 2025 retention top highlights
If we look at the retention list, which was released last week, South Africa's explosive wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen was the most expensive among the 46 players. Klaasen was retained for Rs 23 crore by Sunrisers Hyderabad, who made a total of five retentions and tried sticking with the core, which helped them reach the finals in the previous edition.
Virat Kohli was the most expensive retention among the Indian players, having being retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 21 crore. It is also being reported that Kohli will be seen leading the franchise in the upcoming season, although anything official on the same is yet to be announced.
Meanwhile, three skippers - Pant, Rahul, and Iyer - were let go by their respective franchises and out of the three Pant is expected to cause a massive bidding war during the auctions. It'll be interesting to see where the trio head next following their release.
Meanwhile, Punjab Kings will enter the auction with highest purse value, which is almost 110 crores. The franchise retained two uncapped players - Shashank Singh, Prabhsimran Singh - for a combined price of Rs 9.5 crore.
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