IPL mega auction prediction: Potential top buys and ideal playing XI for 10 teams

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction is all set to be held on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as a total of 557 players will be seen going under the hammer. Ten franchises will be seen bidding against each other to fill 204 slots across their rosters as several big names from the cricketing fraternity will be up for grabs.
All ten teams have a lot of thinking to do ahead of the bidding event as they will have to fill up several remaining slots to complete their 25-member squad with their remaining purse amounts which has been set at INR 120 crore for the next season. Much of the purse amount has been used to retain their core set of players by all the teams barring a Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) who retained just two and three players respectively.
As the auction day draws near, let’s take a look at the possible predictions for each of the ten teams:
Retained Players – Ruturaj Gaikwad (INR 18 crore), Ravindra Jadeja (INR 18 crore), Matheesha Pathirana (INR 13 crore), Shivam Dube (INR 12 crore), MS Dhoni (INR 4 crore)
Purse Remaining – INR 55 crore (out of INR 120 crore)
CSK’s predicted targets – CSK’s top picks will depend a lot on their legendary wicketkeeper-batter and former captain MS Dhoni. If Dhoni has decided that 2025 would be his farewell, CSK will look to go for a wicketkeeper, preferably Indian, to secure their future. Hence, India wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant could well on the radar of the franchise. However, with Pant being a hugely sought after player, he will be eager to and hence it will be difficult for the five-time champions to have him on board. Devon Conway, Faf du Plessis, Ajinkya Rahane, Sameer Rizvi, Mustafizur Rahman and Rachin Ravindra are expected to be the possible targets for Chennai.
Probable Playing XI- Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Devon Conway, Sameer Rizvi/Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube, Marcus Stoinis, Ravindra Jadeja, Glenn Phillips, MS Dhoni (wk), Rahul Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana
Retained Players – Jasprit Bumrah (INR 18 crore), Suryakumar Yadav (INR 16.35 crore), Hardik Pandya (INR 16.35 crore), Rohit Sharma (INR 16.30 crore), Tilak Varma (INR 8 crore)
Purse Remaining – INR 45 crore (out of INR 120 crore)
Mumbai have done a phenomenal job by retaining their big Indian core which seemed a herculean task at first. The five-time champions will be on a lookout for a solid wicketkeeper batter and could well but back Ishan Kishan or Quinton de Kock.
The MI management might also be seen breaking their bank to get Trent Boult back to once again form a deadly new ball combo with Jasprit Bumrah. Apart from that, Mumbai will also be on a hunt to have a spinner and might once again put their faith in Piyush Chawla. Krunal Pandya could also be on the target of Mumbai who spent his initial years in the team and played a key role in their 2017 triumph.
Probable Playing XI- Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan/Quinton de Kock, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Liam Livingstone, Sikandar Raza/Mitchell Marsh, Krunal Pandya, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult
Retained Players – Virat Kohli (INR 21 crore), Rajat Patidar (INR 11 crore), Yash Dayal (INR 5 crore)
Purse Remaining – INR 83 Crore
RCB have expectly retained their star player Virat Kohli along with youngsters Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal. Hence, the three-time runner-ups will be seen completely rebuilding their squad for the next season. One of the key targets for RCB will be the all rounder Will Jacks who had a brilliant season in 2024. Wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal could also be seen returning to the franchise which parted ways with him after 2021.
In the seam department, Australian stars Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc might also be one the radar of the Bengaluru think tank.
Probable Playing XI- Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rajat Patidar, Will Jacks, Glenn Maxwell/ Rachin Ravindra, Mahipal Lomror/Abhinav Manohar, Yuzvendra Chahal/Washington Sundar, Noor Ahmed/ Allah Ghazanfar, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood/Nathan Ellis
Retained Players – Rinku Singh (INR 13 crore), Varun Chakravarthy (INR 12 crore), Sunil Narine (INR 12 crore), Andre Russell (INR 12 crore), Harshit Rana (INR 4 crore), Ramandeep Singh (INR 4 crore)
Purse Remaining – INR 51 Crore
KKR managed to retain most of their top performers and the defending champions will be seen filling remaining gaps in their squad. They will look to buy back some of their former players such as Venkatesh Iyer, Philip Salt, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Suyash Sharma.
Probable Playing XI- Sunil Narine, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Ramandeep Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Gerald Coetzee/Gus Atkinson, Suyash Sharma, Harshit Rana
Retained Players – Heinrich Klaasen (INR 23 crore), Pat Cummins (INR 18 crore), Abhishek Sharma (INR 14 crore), Travis Head (INR 14 crore), Nitish Kumar Reddy (INR 6 crore)
Purse Remaining – INR 45 Crore
The 2016 champions retained a mix of top international players and young Indian talent by splurging a massive amount from their purse. SRH are now left with the task of creating the best possible squad out of the remaining 45 Crore purse. Indian batters Venkatesh Iyer, Nehal Wadhera are likely to be on the radar of the defending champions as they aim to create a strong batting line up.
The team management will also have their eyes on wrist spinner Wanindu Hasaranga, star India seamer Mohammed Siraj and all rounders Washington Sundar or Rachin Ravindra.
Probable Playing XI- Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Heinrich Klaasen, Nehal Wadhera, Nitish Reddy, Ashutosh/Washington Sundar, Wanindu Hasaranga/Rachin Ravindra, Pat Cummins, Yuzvendra Chahal/Rahul Chahar, Mohammed Siraj, T Natararan/Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Retained Players – Sanju Samson (INR 18 crore), Yashasvi Jaiswal (INR 18 crore), Riyan Parag (INR 14 crore), Dhruv Jurel (INR 14 crore), Shimron Hetmyer (INR 11 crore), Sandeep Sharma (INR 4 crore)
Purse Remaining – INR 41 crore
Rajasthan Royals have the lowest purse remaining among all ten franchises as they retained a strong group of Indian players along with Shimron Hetmyer. The RR management will be on a lookout for their former players such as Jos Buttler, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult along with some top young Indian talent.
Probable Playing XI- Sanju Samson (captain/wicketkeeper), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, David Miller, Dhruv Jurel, Jacob Bethell, Shemron Hetmeyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Gerald Coetzee, Sandeep Sharma, T. Natarajan
Retained Players – Nicholas Pooran (INR 21 crore), Ravi Bishnoi (INR 11 crore) Mayank Yadav (INR 11 crore), Mohsin Khan (INR 4 crore), Ayush Badoni (INR 4 crore)
Purse Remaining – INR 69 Crore
Lucknow let go of their captain KL Rahul and retained a total of five players for the upcoming season. They will be on a lookout for a new skipper and hence could be seen going after Shreyas Iyer. They could also target Naman Dhir, who impressed in his short stint with MI last time around. Another option could be that they go Ishan Kishan as an option as well, but he could be a man in demand.
Probable Playing XI- Jos Buttler/Quinton de Kock, Ishan Kishan/Naman Dhir, Nicholas Pooran, Shreyas Iyer/Nitish Rana, Glenn Maxwell/Marcus Stoinis, Ayush Badoni, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Mayank Yadav, Josh Hazlewood
Players Retained – Axar Patel (INR 16.50 crore), Kuldeep Yadav (INR 13.25 crore), Tristan Stubbs (INR 10 crore), Abishek Porel (INR 4 crore)
Purse Remaining – INR 73 Crore
Delhi Capitals also let go of their captain Rishabh Pant after reported fallout with the India star. Hence, they could also be after Shreyas Iyer as a possible captaincy option during the bidding event. Philip Salt, Kagiso Rabada, Jacob Bethell and Venkatesh Iyer could be the remaining top prospects for DC.
Probable Playing XI- Phil Salt/Josh Inglis, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer, Nehal Wadhera, Tristan Stubbs/ Glenn Phillips, Axar Patel, Jacob Bethell/Omarzai, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Kagiso Rabada/ Spencer Johnson, Rasikh Dar/ Mukesh Kumar
Players Retained – Rashid Khan (INR 18 crore), Shubman Gill (INR 16.50 crore), Sai Sudharsan (INR 8.50 crore), Rahul Tewatia (INR 4 crore), Shahrukh Khan (INR 4 crore)
Purse Remaining – INR 69 Crore
The 2022 champions retained big stars Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill along with young Indian talent and now have INR 69 Crore remaining in their purse. Shreyas Iyer, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Ishan Kishan and Josh Hazlewood could be the possible buying options for Gujarat.
Probable Playing XI- Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Glenn Maxwell/Marcus , David Miller/Harry Brook, Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Sai Kishore, Mohammed Shami/Umran Malik, Mitchell Starc/Trent Boult.
Retained Players – Shashank Singh (INR 5.5 crore), Prabhsimran Singh (INR 4 crore)
Purse Remaining – INR 110.5 crore
Punjab have retained the least number of players among all ten teams and have the highest purse amount remaining. Hence, the team management will be able to bid of every top player in the auction such as Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Jos Buttler among others. However, they will be first willing to buy back their premier seamer Arshdeep Singh who is likely to create a bidding war among teams. Hence, PBKS have a great chance of building their best ever squad in the IPL history.