Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer. (BCCI/IPL Photo)

NEW DELHI: Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer were high in demand on opening day of the IPL 2025 mega auction and it was the former who created history by becoming the most expensive buy in IPL history. Pant got a record-breaking bid of Rs 27 crore from Lucknow Supergiants (LSG) shortly after Punjab Kings (PBKS) got Iyer for Rs 26.75 crore.
Shreyas, who led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the title earlier this year, and Delhi Capitals’ (DC) star player Pant both benefited from entering the auction after parting ways with their respective franchises.While Pant and Shreyas were expected to trigger bidding wars, Venkatesh Iyer emerged as the biggest surprise of the day as the all-rounder was sold to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for Rs 23.75 crore.

Venkatesh, a key member of Shreyas’ title-winning KKR squad, saw his former team spend a staggering Rs 23.75 crore to buy him after not retaining him ahead of the auction. There were plenty of crorepatis on the opening day as many uncapped players were high in demand towards the fag end.
On Day 1 of the action-packed mega auction, 72 players, including 24 overseas, were sold for a combined price of Rs 467.95 crore. Only four Right To Match (RTM) cards were used and as many as 12 players failed to attract a bid.

Here’s the complete team lineup after the conclusion of the first day of the auction:
Chennai Super Kings IPL 2025 squad: Players Retained: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Rs 18 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (Rs 18 crore), Matheesha Pathirana (Rs 13 crore), Shivam Dube (Rs 12 crore), MS Dhoni (Rs 4 crore). Players Bought: Noor Ahmad (Rs 10 crore), Ravichandaran Ashwin (Rs 9.75 crore), Devon Conway (Rs 6.25 crore), Khaleel Ahmed (Rs 4.8 crore), Rachin Ravindra (Rs 4 crore), Rahul Tripathi (Rs 3.4 crore), Vijay Shankar (Rs 1.2 crore)
Purse Left: Rs 15.6 crore
Overseas Players: 4
Total Players: 12
Delhi Capitals IPL 2025 squad: Players Retained: Axar Patel (Rs 16.50 crore), Kuldeep Yadav (Rs 13.25 crore), Tristan Stubbs (Rs 10 crore), Abishek Porel (Rs 4 crore). Players Bought: KL Rahul (Rs 14 crore), Mitchell Starc (Rs 11.75 crore), T Natarajan (Rs 10.75 crore), Jake Fraser-Mcgurk (Rs 9 crore), Harry Brook (Rs 6.25 crore), Ashutosh Sharma (Rs 3.8 crore), Mohit Sharma (Rs 2.2 crore), Sameer Rizvi (Rs 95 Lakh), Karun Nair (Rs 50 Lakh)
Purse Left: Rs 13.8 crore
Overseas Players: 4
Total Players: 13
Gujarat Titans IPL 2025 squad: Players Retained: Rashid Khan (Rs 18 crore), Shubman Gill (Rs 16.50 crore), Sai Sudharsan (Rs 8.50 crore), Rahul Tewatia (Rs 4 crore), Shahrukh Khan (Rs 4 crore). Players Bought: Jos Buttler (Rs 15.75 crore), Mohammed Siraj (Rs 12.25 crore), Kagiso Rabada (Rs 10.75 crore), Prasidh Krishna (Rs 9.5 crore), Mahipal Lomror (Rs 1.7 crore), Kumar Kushagra (Rs 65 Lakh), Manav Suthar (Rs 30 Lakh) Anuj Rawat (Rs 30 Lakh), Nishant Sindhu (Rs 30 Lakh)
Purse Left: Rs 17.5 crore
Overseas Players: 3
Total Players: 14
Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2025 squad: Players Retained: Rinku Singh (Rs 13 crore), Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 12 crore), Sunil Narine (Rs 12 crore), Andre Russell (Rs 12 crore), Harshit Rana (Rs 4 crore), Ramandeep Singh (Rs 4 crore). Players Bought: Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 23.75 crore), Anrich Nortje (Rs 6.5 crore), Quinton De Kock (Rs 3.6 crore), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (Rs 3 crore), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Rs 2 crore), Vaibhav Arora (Rs 1.8 crore), Mayank Markande (Rs 30 Lakh)
Purse Left: Rs 10.5 crore
Overseas Players: 5
Total Players: 13
Lucknow Super Giants IPL 2025 squad: Players retained: Nicholas Pooran (Rs 21 crore), Ravi Bishnoi (Rs 11 crore) Mayank Yadav (Rs 11 crore), Mohsin Khan (Rs 4 crore), Ayush Badoni (Rs 4 crore). Players Bought: Rishabh Pant (Rs 27 crore), Avesh Khan (Rs 9.75 crore), David Miller (Rs 7.5 crore), Abdul Samad (Rs 4.2 crore), Mitchell Marsh (Rs 3.4 crore), Aiden Markram (Rs 2 crore), Aryan Juyal (Rs 30 Lakh)
Purse Left: Rs 14.85 crore
Overseas Players: 4
Total Players: 12
Mumbai Indians IPL 2025 squad: Players Retained: Jasprit Bumrah (Rs 18 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (Rs 16.35 crore), Hardik Pandya (Rs 16.35 crore), Rohit Sharma (Rs 16.30 crore), Tilak Varma (Rs 8 crore). Players Bought: Trent Boult (Rs 12.5 crore), Naman Dhir (Rs 5.25 crore), Robin Minz (Rs 65 Lakh), Karn Sharma (Rs 50 Lakh)
Purse Left: Rs 26.1 crore
Overseas Players: 1
Total Players: 9
Punjab Kings IPL 2025 squad: Players Retained: Shashank Singh (Rs 5.5 crore), Prabhsimran Singh (Rs 4 crore). Players Bought: Shreyas Iyer (Rs 26.75 crore), Yuzvendra Chahal (Rs 18 crore), Arshdeep Singh (Rs 18 crore), Marcus Stoinis (Rs 11 crore), Nehal Wadhera (Rs 4.2 crore), Glenn Maxwell (Rs 4.2 crore), Vyshak Vijaykumar (Rs 1.8 crore), Yash Thakur (Rs 1.6 crore), Harpreet Brar (Rs 1.5 crore), Vishnu Vinod (Rs 95 Lakh)
Purse Left: Rs 22.5 crore
Overseas Players: 2
Total Players: 12

Rajasthan Royals IPL 2025 squad: Players retained: Sanju Samson (Rs 18 crore), Yashasvi Jaiswal (Rs 18 crore), Riyan Parag (Rs 14 crore), Dhruv Jurel (Rs 14 crore), Shimron Hetmyer (Rs 11 crore), Sandeep Sharma (Rs 4 crore). Players Bought: Jofra Archer (Rs 12.5 crore), Wanindu Hasaranga (Rs 5.25 crore), Maheesh Theekshana (Rs 4.4 crore), Akash Madhwal (Rs 1.2 crore), Kumar Kartikeya Singh (Rs 30 Lakh)
Purse Left: Rs 17.35 crore
Overseas Players: 4
Total Players: 11
Royal Challengers Bengaluru IPL 2025 squad: Players Retained: Virat Kohli (Rs 21 crore), Rajat Patidar (Rs 11 crore), Yash Dayal (Rs 5 crore). Players Bought: Josh Hazlewood (Rs 12.5 crore), Phil Salt (Rs 11.5 crore), Jitesh Sharma (Rs 11 crore), Liam Livingstone (Rs 8.75 crore), Rasikh Dar (Rs 6 crore), Suyash Sharma (Rs 2.6 crore)
Purse Left: Rs 30.65 crore
Overseas Players: 3
Total Players: 9
Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL 2025 squad: Players Retained: Heinrich Klaasen (Rs 23 crore), Pat Cummins (Rs 18 crore), Abhishek Sharma (Rs 14 crore), Travis Head (Rs 14 crore), Nitish Kumar Reddy (Rs 6 crore). Players Bought: Ishan Kishan (Rs 11.25 crore), Mohammed Shami (Rs 10 crore), Harshal Patel (Rs 8 crore), Abhinav Manohar (Rs 3.2 crore), Rahul Chahar (Rs 3.2 crore), Adam Zampa (Rs 2.4 crore), Simarjeet Singh (Rs 1.5 crore), Atharva Taide (Rs 30 Lakh)
Purse Left: Rs 5.15 crore
Overseas Players: 4
Total Players: 13