The IPL 2025 mega auction saw ten teams spend 639.15 crores across two days on 182 players. All franchises have now assembled their line-ups for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. However, the bidding wars in Jeddah were not without any blunders. The two-day event saw a couple of questionable moments that sparked controversy. Some were even at the hands of Mallika Sagar, the first female auctioneer in IPL history.
Drama on Swastik Chikara's bid
This happened on Day 2 of the mega auction during the bidding on 19-year-old opener Swastic Chikara. RCB raised the initial paddle for him at the base price of 30 Lakh, and it appeared that they had bought the players without any competition. However, DC head coach Hemang Badani raised questions right away by saying that their team had also raised the paddle for the player, but the auctioneer did not see it.
Auctioneer Mallika Sagar admitted that she might have missed it due to the accelerated pace of the auction. However, despite DC raising an issue with it Chikara joined RCB because as per the rules of auction, if the gavel falls the sale can not be overturned and is considered final.
Delhi Capitals' co-owner Kiran Grandhi was not happy with the result and openly expressed his anger and frustation with the incident.
"This is a significant oversight, and it cost us the chance to secure a promising talent," said Grandhi during a post-auction interaction.
Swastik was part of the Delhi Capitals side in the IPL 2024 edition as well but could not get a chance to play in the season. The franchise again seemed eager to get his services but could not following the incident. The young gun who caught a lot of eyes with a record-breaking performance in the UP T20 League.
Chikara was representing Meerut Mavericks and he scored 499 runs in the season. He also smashed a whopping 47 sixes during that and claimed the Orange cap along with MVP and season's Super Striker awards. He even proved his captaincy mettle by leading the Mavericks to the title and emerged as a promising young talent
Delhi Capitals buys in IPL 2025 mega auction
Mitchell Starc (11.75 crore), KL Rahul (14 crore), Jake Fraser-McGurk (9 Crore) RTM, T. Natarajan (10.75 crore), Harry Brook (6.25 crore), Karun Nair (50 Lakh), Sameer Rizvi (95 Lakh), Ashutosh Sharma (3.80 crores), Mohit Sharma (2.20 crores), Faf du Plessis (2 crores), Mukesh Kumar (8 crore), Darshan Markande (30 Lakh), Vipraj Nigam (50 Lakh), Dushmantha Chameera (75 Lakh), Donovan Ferreira (75 Lakh), Ajay Mandal (30 Lakh), Manvanth Kumar (30 Lakh), Tripurana Vijay (30 Lakh), Madhav Tiwari (40 Lakh)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru's buys in IPL 2025 mega auction
Liam Livingstone (8.75 crore), Phil Salt (11.50 crore) Jitesh Sharma (INR 11 crore), Josh Hazlewood (12.50 crore), Rasikh Dar (6 crores), Suyash Sharma (2.60 crore), Krunal Pandya (5.75 crore), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (10.75 crore), Tim David (3 crores), Swapnil Singh (50 Lakh), Romario Shepherd (1.50 crore), Nuwan Thushara (1.60 crore), Manoj Bhandage (30 Lakh), Jacob Bethell (2.60 crore), Devdutt Padikkal (2 crore), Swastik Chikara (30 Lakh), Lungi Ngidi (1 crore), Abhinandan Singh (30 Lakh), Mohit Rathee (30 Lakh)
