The highly-anticipated IPL mega auction for the 2025 season is currently taking place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. As many as 577 players are going under the hammer for 204 vacant slots as all 10 franchises look to fine-tune their squads for the one final time before the league's 18th edition.

A number players triggered a fierce bidding war in the first set, featuring the marquee names. The likes of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant stole the show by becoming the most expensive player in the history of IPL auction.

The auction started with an intense bidding on left-arm pacer Arshdeep, who was released by Punjab Kings ahead of the grand auction.

Being a marquee player, Arshdeep’s starting price was INR 2 Crore and he fetched nine times more in the mega auction. As many as six franchises were interested to buy him, but PBKS exercised their Right To Match (RTM) option and pipped the likes of SRH, RR, GT, DC, and CSK to secure his services for INR 18 Crore.

Next name out was Kagiso Rabada. The South African speedster, who was also released by PBKS, was roped in by Gujarat Titans for INR 10.75 Crore. MI and RCB also showed interest, but the Titans had the last laugh.

Shreyas Iyer, who parted ways with KKR despite leading the franchise to the IPL 2024 title, was the third marquee player up for grabs.

Rumours were rife that Delhi Capitals will bring back Shreyas as captain for IPL 2025 season. While DC did their best to sign Iyer, PBKS with their staggering purse outbid them to rope in the IPL-winning captain for INR 26.75 Crore, making him the most expensive buy in the league's history.