Pant, KL Rahul could get Rs 25 crore in IPL mega auction: Aakash Chopra

New Delhi [India], October 31 (ANI): Ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) retention announcement, the former India cricketer Aakash Chopra said that if wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant and right-hand batter KL Rahul go under the hammer, they will get a lot of money in the auction.

Pant and Rahul would take part in the upcoming mega auction ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 after not being retained by their respective franchises Delhi Capitals (DC) and Lucknow Super Giant (LSG), according to ESPNcricinfo.

“Rishabh Pant is going to get a lot of money. The amount could go to Rs 25 crore or even 30. The same is true for KL Rahul. Again a wicketkeeper-batter and scores 500-600 runs every year. Some people will cry over his strike rate. I saw a meme somewhere that he is more than 30 years old, married, and everyone is saying he is finished, so CSK might take him as such players go there,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

Thursday, October 31 is the deadline by which all the franchises are supposed to submit the list of their retained players ahead of the mega auction. Each team can retain six players, out of which a maximum of five can be capped and two uncapped. This can be either via retention or by using the Right to Match (RTM) option.

The auction purse for the franchises has been set at Rs 120 crore for IPL 2025. The total salary cap will now consist of an auction purse, incremental performance pay and match fees. Previously in 2024, the total salary cap (auction purse + incremental performance pay) was Rs. 110 crore which will now be Rs. 146 crore (2025), Rs 151 crore (2026) and Rs. 157 crore (2027). A match fee has been introduced for the first time in IPL. Each Playing member (Including the Impact Player) will get a match fee of Rs 7.5 lakh per match. This will be in addition to his contracted amount.

The IPL’s governing body has set minimum deductions from the purse for each player retained, with Rs 18 crore for the first player, Rs 14 crore for the second, Rs 11 crore for the third, Rs 18 crore for the fourth, Rs 14 crore for the fifth and Rs 4 crore for an uncapped player. Franchises are free to give more or less of these amounts to the players retained by them.