IPL Auction 2025: Shreyas Iyer, the former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain and leading team India batter, was sold for a whopping ₹26.75 crore to Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah on Sunday.
This deal marked a landmark moment, since Shreyas Iyer emerged as one of the costliest players in IPL auction history.
After intense bidding war between the Delhi Capitals (DC) and the Punjab-based franchise, the bid finally settled in favour of Punjab Kings in the history of the cash-rich tournament.
"Hello everyone. Elated to join the Punjab Kings family. I can't wait to kickstart the season. Looking forward," said 29-year-old Shreyas Iyer in his first reaction.
A video of Shreyas Iyer's comment was posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), by Punjab Kings.
The mega auction, which took place at the Abadi Al Johar Arena on November 25, saw history being created with Rishabh Pant's bid. Rishabh Pant took over the costliest player title shortly after Shreyas Iyer's bid.
Notably, 27-year-old Rishabh Pant occupies the top spot in the list of most expensive players. The wicket-keeper batter was bought by Lucknow Super Giants for ₹27 crore.
In order to retain Rishabh Pant, the Delhi Capitals initially exercised its RTM (Right to Match) card at ₹20.75 crore.
However, a twist in the tale arose after Lucknow Super Giants raised the bid to ₹27 crore, prompting DC to withdraw. Consequently, Rishabh Pant surpassed the mark set moments earlier by Shreyas Iyer.
Lucknow Super Giants's Shashwat Goenka said, no matter how much you plan, things don’t always work out like that. "This (getting Pant for ₹27 crore) was very well to our plan. It wasn’t really a magic number; we just wanted a number so that the RTM doesn’t get exercised,” reported Sports Star quoting Goenka.
