IPL mega auction for 2025 season likely to be held overseas on Nov 15

The IPL mega auction for the 2025 season is reportedly set to be held on Nov 15, outside of India. The last auction was held in Dubai, being the first-ever to be held outside India. This time as well, the auction is expected to be held away from home, likely in theMiddle East.Doha or Abu Dhabi are among the options. Notably, Saudi Arabia -- which has been making heavy investments in many sports in recent times --is reportedlyinterested in hosting the IPL auction.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to provideclarity on the IPL auction date and venue by the end of this month. In addition, they areset to announce the retention rules to all the ten franchises sooner than later. If the Indian cricket board announces the retention rules by Sep end, it will give all franchises nearly two months to plan and strategise.

During the last mega auction, held in 2022, the IPL teams were allowed to retain as many asfour players. Since then, there are differing opinions among franchises regarding the optimal number of retained players. While some have pitched in a needfor a larger retention cap, possibly up to eight players, other franchisesare comfortable with the existing limit of four or five. It will be interesting to see if any changes are made in the upcoming retention rules to be announced by the BCCI.

Talking about the IPL franchises, there are a lot of noises already with many new developments happening in every team. Ricky Ponting, who left the Delhi Capitals (DC) franchise after a seven-year stint, recently joined Punjab Kings (PBKS) as the head coach whereasIndia's World Cup-winning coach Rahul Dravid has been named as Rajasthan Royals (RR) coach. Some more changes are expected ahead of the upcoming mega auction in Nov.