Sports: The mega auction ahead of the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is likely to take place in Riyadh, with the dates likely to be around November 24 and 25 according to a report in ANI. All the franchises announced their list of retained players on October 31 even as the likes of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer were released.

Apart from this, players like Heinrich Klaasen, Virat Kohli and Nicholas Pooran were among the most expensive retentions earning Rs 23 crore and 21 crore respectively. Now the focus has shifted to the mega auction and if the reports are to be believed, the event is set to take place on November 24 and 25.

It will be a two-day event with teams looking to build a squad of a maximum of 25 players. The auction will also clash with the first Test between India and Australia in Perth which will commence on November 22. Coming back to retentions, a total of 46 players - 36 Indian and 10 overseas - stayed with their respective teams and the franchises spent a whopping amount of Rs 558.5 crore. 

List of retained players

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Matheesha Pathirana, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni

Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abhishek Porel

Gujarat Titans: Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan

Kolkata Knight Riders: Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep  Singh

Lucknow Super Giants: Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni

Mumbai Indians: Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma

Punjab Kings: Shashank Singh, Prabhsimran Singh

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson, Yashaswi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Yash Dayal

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head

Top players who will be in auction

KL Rahul, Faf du Plessis, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, David Miller, Arshdeep Singh, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Kagiso Rabada, Jos Buttler, Harry Brook, Mohammed Siraj.