General View during the the Indian Premier League Auction held at the ABADI AL JOHAR ARENA, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The pacers’ pack earned the big bucks on the second and final day of the Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction as the franchises struggled to shape up their squads for the 2025 edition.
Of the 110 players who were sold on Monday for a combined total of ₹175.20 crore at the Al Johar Abadi Arena, one-fourth of the money was splurged on seven pacers who were called in the fourth set.
Also Read: IPL auction 2025 Day 2 LIVE Highlights
The top buy
Veteran Bhuvneshwar Kumar (₹10.75 crore) earned the biggest pay cheque of the day from Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Once Mumbai Indians lost out on Bhuvneshwar, it broke the bank for Deepak Chahar (₹9.25 crore) and Lucknow Super Giants went big on Akash Deep (₹8 crore).
Punjab Kings chased Mukesh Kumar and even escalated the bid from ₹6.50 crore to ₹8 crore once Delhi Capitals employed the Right to Match (RTM) option but DC matched the bid. The RTM resulted in R. Sai Kishore, the Tamil Nadu all-rounder, going back to Gujarat Titans for ₹2 crore. Punjab Kings escalated the bid from ₹90 lakh to ₹2 crore which was matched by Titans.
Chennai Super Kings had a relatively quiet beginning, having managed to welcome all-rounder Sam Curran (₹2.40 crore) back into its stable. Later in the day, CSK went big on the Indian pace duo of Anshul Kamboj (₹3.40 crore) and Tamil Nadu’s Gurjapneet Kaur (₹2.20 crore) to boost its pace battery. The franchise signed off with a near-perfect auction, filling its maximum allotted quota of 25 players with only ₹5 lakh remaining in its purse.
CSK signed seven overseas players, one less than the maximum allowed.
In fact, only four teams — Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru — signed eight overseas cricketers.
As expected, Punjab Kings – who came into the auction with a whopping purse of ₹110.50 crore – spent the maximum amount over the two days. The Ricky Ponting-coached PBKS spent ₹110.15 crore.
Sunrisers Hyderabad appeared to have been struggling to go big on players with a tight purse at the start of the day but still managed to add strong domestic back-ups.
Surprisingly, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw remained unsold as all the franchises turned their back on the trio. Sarfaraz Khan too remained unsold for the second auction in succession. Sarfaraz’s younger brother, Musheer, though, was picked at base price by Punjab Kings.
Bihar’s 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi witnessed a bidding war for him before Rajasthan Royals bagged him for ₹1.1 crore. He became IPL’s youngest signing.
Published – November 26, 2024 01:05 am IST
Content Source: www.thehindu.com