The Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction is just around the corner. The two-day grand affair will be held on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The likes of Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell, Kagiso Rabada, among others, are all up for grabs. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan expressed no hesitation in predicting that it is going to be wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, who is going to break the bank, becoming the costliest pick in the history of the cash-rich league.
Irfan Pathan also predicted that Australia pacer Mitchell Starc’s record is in danger as Rishabh Pant is all set to “break it”. During the last year’s mini-auction, Starc had become the costliest pick in the history of the tournament after being picked by Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping INR 24.75 crore.
However, the former India all-rounder believes that Pant, who is currently in Australia for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, will have no problem in going past the amount fetched by Starc.
“Mitchell Starc’s auction record is in danger. @RishabhPant17 is ready to break it,” Irfan Pathan wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
In October 2024, all the ten IPL franchises announced their player retentions ahead of the mega auction. Delhi Capitals did not retain their skipper Pant as they chose to stick with Axar Patel, Tristan Stubbs, Kuldeep Yadav and Abishek Porel.
Delhi Capitals have INR 73 crore remaining in their auction purse, hence it needs to be seen whether the franchise raises its paddle to exercise the right-to-match (RTM) option for Pant.
The left-handed batter has played 111 matches for Delhi Capitals in IPL, scoring 3,284 runs at an average of 35.31 and strike-rate of 148.93.
Under his leadership, the franchise wasn’t able to make it to the playoffs last season. The likes of Lucknow Super Giants, Punjab Kings, KKR are all looking for a captain in this year’s auction, hence, Pant is expected to be in huge demand.
Pant has registered his base price as INR 2 crore, and he is a part of the Marquee Set 1, hence, he would be up for grabs, within the starting few minutes of the auction in Jeddah.
A total of 574 players will be featured in the mega auction. Out of the 574 players, 366 are Indian and 208 are overseas, including 3 players from associate nations.
The auction will also include 318 Indian uncapped players and 12 uncapped overseas players. 204 slots will be up for grabs with 70 available slots for overseas players.
INR 2 Crore is the highest reserve price with 81 players opting to be in the highest bracket.