At Rs 27 cr, Pant priciest ever at IPL, Shreyas a shade cheaper

Resurrected generational talent Rishabh Pant pipped Shreyas Iyer to become the costliest buy in the IPL’s history with a Rs 27 crore winning bid from Lucknow Super Giants, while Venkatesh Iyer was the surprise showstopper as teams expectedly went the extra mile for marquee Indian players at the mega auction here on Sunday.

Shreyas, who captained Kolkata Knight Riders to the title earlier this year, and Delhi Capitals’ icon Pant, reaped the benefits of making themselves available at the auction following differences with their respective teams. Venkatesh was also a part of Shreyas’ triumphant KKR outfit and the franchise had to pay a whopping Rs 23.75 crore to bring him back after not retaining him.

The batting all-rounder, who has become an integral part of the KKR setup over the years, gained from an intense bidding battle between the Kolkata side and Royal Challengers Bengaluru to end with a massive sum.

Shreyas, on the other hand, was the first to surpass Mitchell Starc as the IPL’s most expensive buy with cash-heavy Punjab Kings shelling out Rs 26.75 crore for their potential captain before Pant overtook the fellow Indian by attracting Rs 25 lakh more from LSG.

Former DC teammates Shreyas and Pant have had to deal with adversity in the past couple of years, but have shown remarkable resilience and courage to bounce back.

Pant beat all odds to make a successful comeback after a life-threatening car accident in 2022, while Shreyas put behind his exclusion from the BCCI central contracts list to lead KKR to their third IPL trophy earlier this year.

Delhi Capitals expectedly enabled the Right to Match (RTM) to buy back Pant at Rs 20.75 crore, but LSG raised the bid to Rs 27 crore and the former decided against matching that amount. Both Iyer and Pant are expected to lead their new teams in IPL 2025, which will begin March 14.

Among the second set of players, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal drew an impressive winning bid of Rs 18 crore from Punjab Kings while former LSG captain KL Rahul turned out to be a bargain buy for Delhi Capitals at Rs 14 crore. Chahal was released by Rajasthan Royals ahead of the auction. His price tag suggests he remains a sought after player.

India pacer Mohammed Shami, who recently made a comeback from injury, was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 10 crore.

Among others, Punjab Kings bought back left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh for Rs 18 crore via RTM while South African speedster Kagiso Rabada, who was released by Punjab Kings, was bought for Rs 10.75 crore by Gujarat Titans. Arshdeep was the first player to be sold in the mega auction and he ended up fetching the same price that Punjab Kings would have had to pay to retain him as their leading player.

This is the second time an IPL auction is being held outside the country after last year’s event in Dubai. Australia’s Starc got a much lower price than last year’s Rs 24.75 crore and was sold to Delhi Capitals for Rs 11.75 crore. England’s Jos Buttler went to Gujarat Titans for Rs 15.75 crore.