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Vaibhav Suryavanshi has become the flavour of IPL 2025 since his 35-ball century against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Monday lit up the tournament. But behind his rise to stardom, Rajasthan Royals (RR) have tried to create an environment to help the 14-year-old play with freedom while staying insulated from the pressures of playing in a certain way.”He’s been very welcomed,” head coach Rahul Dravid said on on Wednesday. “One of the things we’ve tried to do is make him feel integrated well into this environment. Even after the auction, we had three to four short-duration camps every month leading into the tournament. Vaibhav was there at every one of those camps, getting to know the players and support staff.”The idea was simple: make him feel at home before the spotlight turned his way. “We were conscious of the fact that we wanted him to feel comfortable by the time he came to the IPL,” Dravid said. “We wanted him to know each and everyone of the players, except the foreign players whom he was meeting for the first time. But he’d met all the Indian players, coaches, admin staff and support staff.”Related

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Despite being “shy”, Dravid felt Suryavanshi hadn’t shown signs of being overwhelmed.”I’m sure he’s having conversations and learning from each of those players, whether it’s a [Yashasvi] Jaiswal, [Riyan] Parag, [Dhruv] Jurel or Sanju [Samson],” Dravid said. “He’s built up good connections and friendships with some of the other guys who’ve played a lot of domestic cricket, like Sandeep Sharma. Even Fazalhaq Farooqi.”He’s a shy boy; he’ll take some time to open up, but he’s very comfortable here. At no stage does it feel like he’s intimidated or he’s holding back. There’s been a bit of an effort gone into trying to ensure that he’s comfortable around the group.”Asked how the coaches have been managing a still-maturing young talent, Dravid said the focus has been on not overcomplicating his game.”At this stage, you don’t want to really confuse him with too many things but just trying to allow him to keep it simple and really have some fun and enjoy his cricket,” Dravid said. “Obviously, he likes to play a positive brand of cricket, that’s no secret, and we want to encourage him to do that and set it up in such a way that he can play that form of cricket without worrying about it too much.”5:27

‘Otherworldly’ Suryavanshi wows Bishop, Aaron

What makes him special? “He’s got real good bat speed,” Dravid observed. “He’s obviously got a high back lift, that’s very obvious. A really good hand-eye coordination in terms of judgment of length. What you look for in a young batsman is how quick he is in picking length.”Vaibhav is very quick to pick up anything that’s fractionally short or if it’s really full, he’s really able to capitalise on that. A combination of high back-lift and ability to pick length gives him the power and he seems to have a natural strength which is helpful in these situations.”In explaining their process in handling a young talent like Suryavanshi, Dravid also underlined how RR view their recruitment – less about just age, more about all-round development and readiness.”Not every Under-19 player gets picked by franchises,” Dravid said. “We look at experience, too. Look at someone like Shubham Dubey, or even Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma, who were picked later in their careers. Vaibhav wasn’t picked just because he’s young. We felt that with a bit of work, he could succeed at this level.”But amid the soaring expectations, Dravid also made a measured plea to those watching from the outside. “We can’t control how much people are going to talk about him or what the media writes about him,” he said. “It’s just about recognising this is what happens and putting a certain level of support around that and helping him navigate all of this attention while still allowing him the space to be a youngster.”It’s impossible to completely distance yourself from it [attention] 100%. A lot of you [journalists] can play that role as well, if the media can be responsible about how you write about not only his success but also his potential failures. Let’s be realistic, he’s going to go through some ups and downs. We’re also going to have to be mindful of that he’s a young man finding his way as well.”

When most players arrive in India for their maiden IPL season, they pull on their new franchise’s kit for the first time. But for Ryan Rickelton, the royal blue and gold trim of Mumbai Indians (MI) was reassuringly familiar.Rickelton has spent three seasons playing for their affiliate MI Cape Town in the SA20, where all six teams are run by IPL owners. Surprisingly, he is the only South African to have played matches for the same franchise in both leagues this year, a route that will surely become increasingly familiar as the global game evolves.Aged 28, Rickelton is a relatively late newcomer to the IPL but has made significant strides under the guidance of MI Cape Town’s batting coach, Hashim Amla, and is the leading run-scorer in the SA20’s brief history. While the two teams’ squads are very different, the crossover in support staff has been beneficial for Rickelton since he arrived in India.Related

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“It’s been a nice introduction into the group, the family – and obviously meeting Akash [Ambani, the MI owner] and everyone as well,” Rickelton said. “It’s not just coming in blind, so it has been an easier transition. But the IPL is a different beast on its own, so to mentally work my head around that is a bit of a different one for me… Luckily, I’ve got a few familiar faces around.”After starting IPL 2025 with scores of 13 and 6, Rickelton hit 62 off 41 balls on Monday night in his first innings at the Wankhede. A target of 117 was never likely to prove challenging, but his attacking intent secured an eight-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) with 43 balls to spare – enough to put MI’s net run-rate firmly in the black, despite starting the season with two defeats.”Opening the batting for Mumbai Indians with Rohit Sharma, there’s always going to be pressure internally and obviously externally as well,” Rickelton said. “Hardik [Pandya, the captain] was emphasising today, ‘Raise intensity, this is our home ground.’ We needed to be better and obviously we couldn’t be zero [wins] from three [games].”ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Rickelton believes that the IPL brings with it “a lot more pressure” than the other franchise leagues he has experienced. “The standard is incredibly high, and the conditions are all changing,” he said. “A year ago, [you] turn on the television and teams are getting 260 and you think it’s a free-for-all, but you come out and it’s actually not that easy.”Different grounds have unique characteristics. The pressure factor internally is big, but externally is huge. You’re playing with some of the world’s best players, not just in this team but around the country, so that extra pressure is there and it’s hard. I’m not going to lie: it’s hard. [I’m] just trying to find my way through that, and trying to adjust my game in order to give the team the best chance of being successful.”Rickelton was bowled off his inside edge in his first two IPL innings, and joked: “I was just trying to not chop it on, in all honesty.” But after two streaky boundaries early in his innings, he grew in confidence and hit three leg-side sixes off Sunil Narine – with the second bringing him a 33-ball half-century.Ryan Rickelton hit five sixes – and four fours – in his innings•Associated Press

“I was a bit nervous,” he said. “I just really wanted to get a score and just ease the nerves down. It was a relatively low total [target], so I knew I could afford a bit of time and just give myself those extra couple of balls… I felt like if I could face 18-20 balls, I’d have some kind of impact on the game and luckily I managed just to get through. It wasn’t as fluent as I’d have liked it to be, but I’ll take it.”It was a massive relief, in all honesty. Our first two games were tricky, on some tough wickets. To get out here in Mumbai and have Spencer [Johnson] turn me inside out was quite a tough battle to get through, but once I managed to get through that it was really pleasing to get a score – but relief, more than anything, and to get two points on the board is great for the team.”The extra bounce at the Wankhede compared to most IPL pitches should provide Rickelton with some home comforts this season, but his main challenge will be to have an impact on the road. Next up for him is a trip to the league’s lowest-scoring venue over the last three years, as MI face Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) away on Friday night.

Haris Rauf has thrown his weight behind the young Pakistan top order suggesting that they should not be judged based on one or two matches and be given a longer rope.Pakistan once more shuffled the deck in their bid to find the right combination as they left out Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam for the five-match T20I series against New Zealand. In came Mohammad Haris and Hasan Nawaz at the top of the order alongside Irfan Khan at No. 4. However, they’ve failed to get going in the first two T20Is, with Pakistan also going down both times.”You talk about criticism, I think it has become common in Pakistan,” Rauf said after Pakistan lost their second game in three days by five wickets in Dunedin. “These are young players. You go to any place, any team in the world, they give the youngsters full freedom. If they give the youngsters a chance, they make sure to give them 10 to 15 matches at a stretch. That is how they become players.Related

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“Everyone who comes into international cricket struggles initially. You talk about criticism, it’s become a norm. Everyone just sits and waits for the Pakistan team to lose so that they can talk about it. They have their opinions, but we are trying to build our team. We are trying to draft the youngsters in, the seniors are also there. As seniors, we motivate our juniors, and advise them about what’s required to succeed in international cricket. The quicker they learn, the better it will be for them.”It’s been a rough few weeks for Pakistan cricket. After being knocked out in the league stages of their home Champions Trophy, they’ve gone down heavily in the first two T20Is against New Zealand under new captain Salman Agha. While they were skittled for 91 in the first T20I in Christchurch, they put up a marginally better show in the second, managing 135 for 9 in the rain-shortened 15-overs-a-side affair.New Zealand, however, hardly broke a sweat in the chase. While Rauf credited the way the hosts went about their batting, he also felt that the Pakistan bowlers were unlucky to not pick a few more wickets.”All players have put in the effort. The kind of grounds we have here, we generally get high-scoring games,” he said. “It’s not like we didn’t bowl well, we were unlucky as well. There were a few top edges that went for six, some went over the ropes due to the wind and small ground. We were putting in the effort as a bowling unit, but we didn’t get the desired result. We were a bit unlucky in the beginning.”We tried using the conditions to our advantage, but we were unlucky. The kind of cricket they played, they hit good shots, so we should credit them.”While Rauf had a decent day with the ball, picking 2 for 20 in his three overs, the rest of his fast-bowling counterparts have struggled. Shaheen Shah Afridi went for 31 off his three overs despite bowling a maiden, while Mohammad Ali conceded 34 runs off his two overs. Rauf agreed that there has been a decline in Pakistan cricket, but is confident that they are trying to build a team which will challenge top sides in future.”There is no doubt that our cricket has declined. But we are building as a team and trying to forge a combination and play cricket that’s required at the top level,” Rauf said. “We are trying different things, and when we try things, there will be failures, but we will learn. And there will come a day in future when you will get to see good cricket from the Pakistan team.”

Jack Clayton’s resolute, unbeaten century for Queensland kept returning New South Wales prodigy Sam Konstas waiting for his first Gabba innings.Queensland No. 3 Clayton was unbeaten on 133 after day one as the Sheffield Shield returned in Brisbane on Saturday, the hosts 307 for 5 after being sent in by the Blues.The left-hander’s fourth first class century was a valuable one, Clayton leading the recovery after they had slipped to 45 for 3 in the first session.He enjoyed some luck after being pinned on the back by a bouncer with his first delivery, dropped at first slip on 98 and then scampering through for a risky single to bring up triple figures.Lachlan Hearne (63) was the more fluent of the pair earlier in the day before Clayton expanded with a series of confident straight and off drives.Jimmy Peirson (36) helped push the total towards 300 before returning allrounder Michael Neser and Clayton got the hosts to stumps.”Nice to get the team in a decent position [on] day one,” Clayton said. “Getting sent in to bat, we want to try and get a big total on the board and drive the game.”It’s really satisfying and it’s been a bit frustrating the first part of the season … some 80s and 90s and a lot of starts. To capitalise and with a bit of luck in there was really nice.”It means young gun Konstas will be made to wait for his first Gabba innings after he was replaced at the top of the Australian order by Travis Head in Sri Lanka and sent home to gain experience on the seam-friendly Brisbane surface.Debutants Hanno Jacobs (2-75) and Ross Pawson (1-64) both had early joy, the latter dismissing Matt Renshaw when the left-hander skied an attempted pull shot to cut short a confident start.Jacobs then had Angus Lovell and Ben McDermott’s scalps in quick succession before the rearguard began.

England will be wondering how they managed to lose in Pune. They squandered a chance to take the series into a decider after winning the toss, reducing India to 12 for 3 and then 79 for 5, got off to a flying start on a flat pitch and heavy dew around it, but ended up losing wickets in clumps after getting to 62 for 0 inside the powerplay. They were still favourites at 129 for in the 15th over, but lost two wickets in Varun Chakravarthy’s last over.One of the answers they will get is they lost six wickets to spinners bowling on a true pitch with a wet ball. The other answer is India’s intent with the bat: they never really slowed down even as the wickets fell. Abhishek Sharma kept going after the triple-wicket maiden early in the innings, and Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya overcame the mid-innings blows with some targeted hitting to score 53 each and take India to a fighting total of 181.Another answer – although they should never have let it play such a significant role – will be that India were allowed to play fast and loose with the concussion substitution. Dube, who was hit on the helmet in the final over and continued batting, complained of delayed onset of concussion symptoms, and was replaced by a full-time bowler in Harshit Rana even when a batting allrounder was available in Ramandeep Singh. Making his debut, Rana took the wickets to Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton to go with a six-run 19th over.Saqib Mahmood checks inIndia had the right idea to go after the bowling with the ball neither seaming nor swinging, but they ended up hitting everything straight to hand. Bowling his first over of the series, Saqib Mahmood accepted the gifts although England did play a part with some inventive fields. Sanju Samson found deep square leg, Tilak Varma edged the first ball he faced to deep third, and then Suryakumar Yadav middled one straight to short mid-on.1:23

Manjrekar: England could have tempered their batting approach

India don’t back downQuite often in the past, India have been guilty of taking the conservative option when forced to make a choice. Over the last year and a half, though, they have played differently. Abhishek is the flag-bearer of brave options. He made sure India had some momentum even as Rinku Singh got stuck. Not for the lack of trying, though.When Abhishek got out for 29 off 19, India held back Hardik in order to target Adil Rashid with Dube. Rashid responded beautifully with a teasing loopy delivery first up with an attacking field, but Jos Buttler dropped a half chance at slip.Rinku’s dismissal to Brydon Carse meant Hardik had to come in with Rashid overs still left. He channelled in his inner MS Dhoni by blocking out Rashid with proper front-foot defence. Dube helped him out by making sure Rashid went for 35 in his four even as Hardik warmed up to 13 off 16.He returned the favour when Mahmood and Jofra Archer came back with shots full of swagger. Those two comeback overs went for 37, which meant India had something to fight with even though Overton conceded just three off the last over. He also clocked Dube in the head, an event that would assume larger significance.Duckett stuns India, but they spin their way backThe chase started on a batting beauty, and Ben Duckett silenced the raucous crowd. More importantly, he reverse-swept Varun for a boundary, took 16 off Axar Patel’s first over, and seemed to be getting the better of spin challenge. Ravi Bishnoi, who had been digging the ball in, gambled with the last ball of the powerplay. With no boundary rider down the ground, he bowled the only flighted delivery of the over, and drew the mis-hit to dismiss Duckett for 39 off 19.Phil Salt, who managed to get to spin for the first time in the series, exposed his stumps in trying to cut Axar and was done in by one that skidded on. Buttler became the victim of a touch of extra bounce for Bishnoi to make it 65 for 3, but the presence of the fielder taking the catch at short third, Rana, left him infuriated according to Kevin Pietersen on air.3:48

Was Rana a like-for-like concussion sub for Dube?

Rana strikes immediatelyEven at 65 for 3, this was England’s game to lose. Harry Brook and Livingstone made an assured start to their stand despite the troubles Brook has had against spin all series. There was hardly any turn to worry about. They had added 27 off 21, and the asking rate was under 10 when Rana came on to bowl in the 12th over. Livingstone guided the second ball straight to the keeper. Done in by the extra bounce when attempting the late-cut.Brook still has it, but not quiteEven then Brook showed how easy batting was in those conditions. He took down Rana for 18 in his second over and even managed to hit his nemesis Varun for two fours, but then pre-meditated a ramp off Varun, possibly expecting the seam-up variation so he could use his pace, but ended up lobbing the slower legbreak to short fine leg. Carse made it worse with a slog-sweep straight to deep square leg in the same over.Overton and Rashid flickered for a moment, bringing it down to 21 off 11, but fizzled out amid Overton’s questionable tactics of not taking singles even though Rashid had slogged Arshdeep Singh for a six.

As the New Zealand Test squad reconvened at the Hagley Oval, three weeks on from a remarkable 3-0 win in India, they welcomed a familiar face back in their ranks.Kane Williamson, now shorn of the groin injury that kept him out of that historic tour, was donning BlackCaps training gear once more on Monday, as the hosts trained in the afternoon in a sun-kissed Christchurch. A three-hour-long 60 for Northern Districts against Auckland marked a tidy return to action after two months out. By all accounts, he is good to go for the first Test, which begins here on Thursday.New Zealand head coach Gary Stead confirmed the 34-year-old will slot back in. However he admitted the necessary reshuffle will require some consideration.Related

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Will Young’s stellar turn as Williamson’s understudy in India – Player of the Series with 244 runs – has presented a conundrum. One which, on the face of it, has an easy if cold-hearted solution. Nevertheless, Stead wants time to talk things through with skipper Tom Latham.”Obvious Kane will come back into the side,” Stead said. “He’s a superb player as we know and that creates some selection headaches for Tom and I to get our heads around in the next day or so.”Kane is one of the best in the world, so he will be playing somewhere in that line-up. It’s just how we manage to shape the rest of the team around that.”Stead ceded the rest of the team is a formality given the pitch is expected to play to type. “Going on traditional Hagley wickets, I imagine there’ll be four seamers out there.” The identity of the fourth remains up in the air, with Nathan Smith and Jacob Duffy battling it out to join Matt Henry, Will O’Rourke and the retiring Tim Southee.Indeed Southee’s farewell tour adds a little extra on this three-match series. The 1-1 draw at the start of 2023 between these two culminated in a one-run thriller in Wellington that fell the way of the hosts. Now with an extra match – and for World Test Championship points this time – there is scope for this to be a thriller.New Zealand are identifiable favourites to take this series – with the onus on winning 3-0 to make their second WTC final in three cycles. And following their success in India, a second title could well be on the cards.”No doubt it gives you confidence as a group but it shows the ebbs and flows of international cricket,” Stead said. “You can see what’s happening in Perth [in the first Test between Australia and India], I’m not sure anyone would have written that script either. The WTC has made teams extremely competitive, teams try and get somewhat of a home advantage to pick up your points there.”[I am] Sure it’s going to be a cracker of a Test series. We’re going to see some fireworks I would suggest.”

When is the IPL 2025 auction happening, and where?

The IPL 2025 auction will take place on November 24 and 25, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It’s being held overseas for only the second time – the 2024 auction was in Dubai. The two-day auction is scheduled to begin at 1300 local time (1530 IST) on November 24. This year, the IPL 2025 auction will clash with the third and fourth days of the Australia vs India Test in Perth.

Why is the IPL 2025 auction a ‘mega auction’?

Every three years, the IPL franchises undergo a reset of sorts. They are allowed to retain only a small number of players – a maximum of six this time – and must rebuild their squads at the mega auction. In other years, in between mega auctions, teams can retain as many players as they like before a ‘mini auction’, which takes place over the course of one day. Mega auctions take two days because the number of players up for bidding is much higher than at mini auctions.

So how many players are there in the IPL 2025 auction?

As many as 1574 players registered for the IPL 2025 mega auction but that list has been shortened to 577 players (367 are Indian and 210 are overseas). Here’s the final list of players.

Will there be a marquee set of players like in the previous two mega auctions in 2018 and 2022?

Yes, in fact there are two marquee player sets right at the start of the auction. Expect the teams to bid fiercely for those players. The first set of marquee players contains: Jos Buttler, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, and Mitchell Starc. the second marquee set contains Yuzvendra Chahal, Liam Livingstone, David Miller, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj

Who are the other big names in the IPL 2025 auction?

There are plenty. Among the Indian players, there’s Ishan Kishan, R Ashwin, Harshal Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, T Natarajan, Devdutt Padikkal, Krunal Pandya, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, and many others.The overseas list includes David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis, Devon Conway, Tim David, Rachin Ravindra, Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow, and many more.Related

• Iyer, Pant, Rahul among 12 marquee players to kick off IPL 2025 auction

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How will bidding take place?

The marquee players will go up for bidding first, separated into two groups of six each. The next round of names to go up will be of capped players divided into sets based on their specialisation: batters, allrounders, wicketkeeper-batters, fast bowlers and spin bowlers. This will be followed by a round of uncapped players divided based on their specialisation. After player No. 116 (subject to timings), the auction will enter its accelerated phase, covering all players from 117 to 574.After this, franchises will be asked to submit names of unsold players from the full list who will go up once more for bidding in another accelerated phase.

How much money do teams have to form their squads at the IPL 2025 auction?

Each team has a total purse of INR 120 crore but some of that has already been spent on retaining players before the IPL 2025 auction. Punjab Kings have the biggest purse – INR 110.5 crore – to spend at the mega auction, followed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who have INR 83 crore, Delhi Capitals (INR 73 crore), Gujarat Titans (INR 69 crore), Lucknow Super Giants (INR 69 crore) Chennai Super Kings (INR 55 crore), Kolkata Knight Riders (INR 51 crore), Mumbai Indians (INR 45 crore), Sunrisers Hyderabad (INR 45 crore), and Rajasthan Royals (INR 41 crore).

And how many players can the teams buy at the IPL 2025 mega auction?

The size of each franchise’s squad is a maximum of 25 (minimum size is 18) and there are ten teams – so a maximum of 250 players in total. Forty-six players have already been retained by the teams, leaving a maximum of 204 slots to fill during the IPL 2025 auction. Each squad can have a maximum of eight overseas players so there are 70 slots for overseas players at the auction.

• CSK: 20 slots (7 overseas)
• RCB: 22 slots (8 overseas)
• SRH: 20 slots (5 overseas)
• MI: 20 slots (8 overseas)
• DC: 21 slots (7 overseas)
• RR: 19 slots (7 overseas)
• PBKS: 23 slots (8 overseas)
• KKR: 19 slots (6 overseas)
• GT: 20 slots (7 overseas)
• LSG: 20 slots (7 overseas)

1:16

Steyn: ‘Another team will welcome KL Rahul with open arms’

Why do teams have varying number of slots to fill at the IPL 2025 auction?

That’s because teams retained different numbers of players before the auction. While teams were allowed to keep a maximum of six (with a maximum of five capped and maximum of two uncapped players), PBKS, for example, retained only two players, while RR and KKR retained six.Mumbai Indians
Players retained: 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)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 1
Players eligible for RTM: One uncapped playerSunrisers Hyderabad
Players retained: 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)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 1
Players eligible for RTM: One uncapped playerChennai Super Kings
Players retained: 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)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 1
Players eligible for RTM: One capped or uncapped playerRoyal Challengers Bengaluru
Players retained: Virat Kohli (INR 21 crore), Rajat Patidar (INR 11 crore), Yash Dayal (INR 5 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 3
Players eligible for RTM: One uncapped player and two capped players, or three capped playersDelhi Capitals
Players retained: Axar Patel (INR 16.50 crore), Kuldeep Yadav (INR 13.25 crore), Tristan Stubbs (INR 10 crore), Abishek Porel (INR 4 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 2
Players eligible for RTM: One uncapped player and one capped player, or two capped playersKolkata Knight Riders
Players retained: 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)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: None
Players eligible for RTM: NoneRajasthan Royals
Players retained: 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)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: None
Players eligible for RTM: NoneGujarat Titans
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)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: One
Players eligible for RTM: One capped playerLucknow Super Giants
Players retained: 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)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 1
Players eligible for RTM: One capped playerPunjab Kings
Players retained: Shashank Singh (INR 5.5 crore), Prabhsimran Singh (INR 4 crore)
Right-to-match (RTM) options at auction: 4
Players eligible for RTM: Four capped players

What does this Right-to-Match option at the IPL 2025 auction mean?

The IPL teams were allowed to retain up to six players this time – of which a maximum of five can be capped and a maximum of two can be uncapped. The six could either be retained outright ahead of the auction, or can be bought back using Right-to-Match (RTM) options at the auction, or a combination of both.So here’s how the RTM options work: If a player has been bought by another franchise at the mega auction, the franchise that he was part of in IPL 2024 can step in at the end of the bidding process and buy back their player using the RTM option by matching the highest bid. After that, the franchise that made the winning bid will be given another opportunity to raise the bid to whatever amount they wish. In that case, the player’s previous team will have to match the increased bid to buy back their player.Having retained just two players, PBKS have the most RTM options (four) at the auction. RCB, who retained three players, have three, while Delhi Capitals, who retained four players, have two. Five teams – MI, CSK, GT, SRH and LSG – retained five players each and have just one RTM option at the auction, while RR and KKR have no RTM options.There is of course no limit on the number of players a franchise can buy back if they place the highest bids for them during regular bidding at the auction.

India fast bowler Mohammed Shami is set to return to action after nearly a year after being named in Bengal’s squad for their next Ranji Trophy fixture starting November 13. Bengal will take on Madhya Pradesh in Indore, where Shami will play his first game since the ODI World Cup final against Australia in Ahmedabad last year.Shami’s fitness was being closely watched in the lead up to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy that starts on November 22 in Perth, although he was not named in the squad for the five-Test series. Just before that squad was picked, Shami had said that he was hoping to take the flight to Australia after playing one or two Ranji Trophy games for Bengal. He can, however, play only one red-ball game to prove his fitness as the Ranji Trophy season has been split into two and there is only one round left before the white-ball tournaments begin.if he chooses to play more domestic games after the Ranji match starting Wednesday, he could feature in the 20-over Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that begins on November 23, a day before the IPL mega auction starts.