Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season, all teams are set to undergo a major overhaul as the mega-auction will be held later this year.

According to a Cricbuzz report, the grand auction is expected to take place in last week of November. The report also claimed that the Indian board is considering hosting the mega auction in a Saudi city.

While the final call is yet to be made regarding the location, the BCCI officials are definitely pondering over Riyadh or Jeddah. Dubai, in the UAE, is also a probable venue but is currently not the first choice.

“Finding a suitable venue or a hotel has proven challenging for the BCCI so far. Although pricing shouldn't be a significant factor for the franchise owners of the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of the richest leagues in the world, and the BCCI, arguably the richest sports body, identifying a venue in Saudi Arabia has been particularly difficult,” the report stated.

Last year, the IPL auction was conducted outside India for the first time as Dubai hosted the event. However, the costs in Saudi Arabia are reportedly much higher than in Dubai.

Earlier, it was reported that London was also among the shortlisted venues but the BCCI dropped the plan considering the cold weather in the UK at this time of year.

The BCCI and IPL officials are now seeking a place which can stage the auction for a couple of days and accommodate the entire IPL entourage, including the 10 franchise delegations and a large entourage involving two broadcasters - Jio and Disney Star.

Meanwhile, the BCCI unveiled retention rules for the IPL 2025 season last week, as per which, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be able to retain the legendary MS Dhoni for INR 4 crore.

In a significant announcement, the BCCI listed that the Indian players, who hadn't played any international game for at least five calendar years would be considered an uncapped player.

Notably, Dhoni retired from all formats of international cricket in August 2020 but the wicketkeeper-batter played his last match for India in July 2019.

However, Dhoni's participation in the upcoming season is still not final and key CSK officials will reportedly meet with the 43-year-old before taking a call.

The meeting is expected to take place in mid-October in Mumbai. Dhoni was in the USA last month and has recently returned to India.

(With Cricbuzz Inputs)