IPL Mega Auction: Delhi and Lucknow swapped, and 3 teams got new captains in the mega auction!

What was being predicted happened in the mega auction being held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the IPL 2025 season. There was a fierce bidding for some of the big players who entered the auction and a lot of money was showered on them. The bidding for the first 12 players shook the budget of many teams, but during this time some teams also got captains, for whom they had specifically entered this auction. Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants even made an exchange in this matter.

On the first day of the mega auction, the bidding started with marquee players, which included 12 major players. It included big players like Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Jos Buttler, for whom big bids were expected. This is what happened when Pant made the record of being the most expensive player in the history of IPL auction. Lucknow Super Giants created history by bidding Rs 27 crore for him.

This mega auction was going to be very important for many teams and one of the reasons for this was the need for captains. Teams like Delhi, Bangalore, Punjab, Kolkata, and Lucknow needed a new captain and some teams solved their captain problem with the initial 12 players. The most interesting case in this was that of Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants, who swapped their captains.

Yes, Lucknow Super Giants placed a record bid of 27 crores on Rishabh Pant. This also made it clear that Lucknow has placed this bid considering him as a candidate for captaincy. Pant was the captain of Delhi last season. On the other hand, Delhi Capitals bought Indian batsman KL Rahul at almost half the price. Delhi spent only 14 crores for him, which seemed much less than expected. Rahul was the captain of Lucknow before this. However, it is not clear at the moment whether Delhi will make him the captain. Looking at Rahul's experience, it seems that Delhi can play this bet.

Apart from these two, Punjab Kings also got their captain. Punjab, which entered the auction with the biggest budget of Rs 110 crore, spent a staggering amount of Rs 26.75 crore for Indian batsman Shreyas Iyer. This was also a clear indication that Punjab placed such a high bid only to make Iyer the captain. It was under Iyer's captaincy that Kolkata won its third title last season.