IPL Auction notes: How teams embraced well-laid plans and mindful spending to assemble strong squads | Cricket News
IPL Auction 2025: Beyond a 17-year-old tournament witnessing a 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi become a crorepati and Ambala born Gurjapneet Singh who found a home at Tamil Nadu now donning the famous yellow jersey, the two-day IPL mega auctions saw teams tussle for the best talents and assemble a strong squad. In the past, franchises have come out of the auction table with plenty of unanswered questions and imbalanced squads. But at Jeddah they came up with well-laid plans and put together evenly matched squads on paper.The two most successful franchises with five titles each, they remained in total control, even as others scrambled around. Having retained their Indian core, Mumbai Indians as usual went big for an overseas pacer in Trent Boult and a new ball bowler in Deepak Chahar. For the rest, they relied on their scouting team, which helped them snap Ryan Rickelton and uncapped Kiwi Bevan-John Jacobs to lend lower-order firepower. In Will Jacks, they got their overseas top-order bat and finished another auction without going big on a spinner.
Chennai Super Kings plan was simple: First up was to get back their players who ended up in the auction pool. Thereafter, they went in search of experienced players like Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, and Khaleel Ahmed. After a long time, they pursued local TN players and brought home R Ashwin, Vijay Shankar, Gurjapneet and Andre Siddarth. In Sam Curran, Jamie Overton and Nathan Ellis, they found their overseas all-rounder and a pacer.
No to overspending
Likewise, Gujarat Titans, who have been smart with their auction picks, continued the trend this time as well. It meant, they didn’t overspend on any of their targets as they got Jos Buttler, Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada for a reasonable price. Thereafter, like how MI managed Jacks and CSK Curran, GT got lucky to spend less on Washington Sundar, Gerald Coetzee, Glenn Phillips and R Sai Kishore.
Successfully rebuilding
Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants came with an intent to rebuild their squad retaining their key players. In the past, such plans have gone awry, but what stood out was they had a plan and went about it, even though some of the players they passed on (especially RCB) did raise eyebrows. But if one looks at the bigger picture, all four franchises have come out with strong squads.
Delhi have assembled one of the strongest attacks which includes Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mukesh Kumar and Mohit Sharma. Unlike the last couple of seasons, they have the batting resources with an excellent blend of local and overseas talents. The divide between the two owners was evident at the table. But they have more reasons to smile.
LSG, smart investors
Lucknow, despite spending big on Rishabh Pant, utilised funds to assemble a rounded squad that includes David Miller, Mitchell Marsh, Shahbaz Ahmed. With Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi already in, it is about putting the right combination on the field.
RCB’s decision to not pursue KL Rahul and Pant beyond a point was surprising. But given how challenging it is to bowl at Chinnaswamy Stadium, they kept their purse to invest in bowlers who could do the most challenging job in the league. So they got Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krunal Pandya, Josh Hazlewood and also Thushara, the pacer with a slinging action. For firepower in the middle order, they acquired Tim David and Liam Livingstone. Safe to say they have a strong team on paper.
Punjab, kings at the auction
Having entered the auction with the biggest purse, Punjab’s move to rebuild from scratch worked well. In Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, and Marco Jansen they have three overseas certainties in the XI and can rotate Azmatullah Omarzai, Josh Inglis and Lockie Ferguson depending on their combination. Even on the domestic front, in Shreyas Iyer, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, they have three big name players. If their local uncapped talent comes good, they can dream of a play-off berth.
Filling the holes
Having retained a maximum of six players, Rajasthan had little money to work with at the auction. Yet, thanks to sharp tactics, they managed to pull off a balanced squad that includes Jofra Archer’s pace, Maheesh Theekshana’s mystery, and a death-over special in Tushar Deshpande. With Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetymer and Sandeep Sharma already in, they have their XI in hand. Wanindu Hasaranga would provide all-round balance. They have solid back-up options in Nitish Rana, Akash Madhwal, and Fazalhaq Farooqi too.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, for a change, went after proven Indian names in Ishan Kishan, Mohammed Shami, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, and Jaydev Unadkat to complete their squad filled with aggressive batsmen. It meant they had to settle for lesser known players to complete the squad. Like RR, filled only 20 out of the 25 slots.
