India's T20 World Cup pacer Arshdeep Singh and veteran spinner Yuzvendra Chahal enjoyed a big bonanza as they both bagged massive bid of Rs 18 crore each from Punjab Kings at the IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday.
Arshdeep was the first player to be sold after Punjab Kings used the Right To Match (RTM) option to buy back the young pacer, whom they had released earlier this year.
Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals were engaged in a thrilling bidding war as they pushed the price to Rs 15.75 crore before Punjab activated the RTM option. SRH further upped the price to Rs 18 crore but Punjab matched the price to acquire the fast bowler.
Punjab, who will be coached by Australian legend Ricky Ponting, came into the auction with a huge purse of Rs 110.5 crore have retained only two uncapped players. They splurged the cash as they beat stiff competition from Delhi Capitals to buy Shreyas Iyer, who led KKR to IPL 2024 title, for Rs 26.75 crore to become the most expensive player at the auction before Rishabh Pant broke the record soon after he was sold to Lucknow Super Giants for a huge Rs 27 crore bid.
Punjab then struck another big deal to get Chahal, the highest wicket-taker in the history of IPL for Rs 18 crore.
K L Rahul was bagged by Delhi Capitals for Rs 14 crore, while his India team-mate Mohammed Siraj was bought by Gujarat Titans for Rs 12.25 crore. Mohammed Shami, coming back from injury, bagged a cool Rs 10 crore deal as he was snapped up by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Australian pacer Mitchell Starc, who was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 24.75 crore in the last auction, got a much lower price this time and was sold to Delhi Capitals for Rs 11.75 crore, while England's Jos Buttler went to Gujarat Titans for Rs 15.75 crore.
This is the second time an IPL auction is being held outside the country after last year's event in Dubai.
