Pant becomes most expensive player in IPL history

Rishabh Pant is moving sides for the first time, having represented Delhi Capitals in eight seasons of the Indian Premier League

Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League as he was signed by Lucknow Super Giants for 27 crore (£2.54m) at the mega auction in Saudi Arabia.

The India wicketkeeper, 27, was the subject of a bidding war between the Super Giants and his former side, Delhi Capitals.

Pant, who returned to the game in this year's IPL after an 14-month lay-off following a car accident, beat the record set earlier in the day when Shreyas Iyer was signed for 26.75 crore (£2.51m) by Punjab Kings.

Australia seamer Mitchell Starc, who held the record prior to the auction, was signed for 11.75 crore (£1m) by the Capitals, some way short of his 24.75 crore (£2.3m) cost when he was signed by Kolkata Knight Riders last year.

Jos Buttler was the only Englishman in the initial batch of players auctioned in Jeddah, and the England white-ball captain and wicketkeeper was picked up by Gujarat Titans for 15.75 crore (£1.4m).

Seamer Jofra Archer, who was initially left off the auction list but was reinstated, will return to Rajasthan Royals, where he won player of the tournament in 2020-21, for 12.5 crore (£1.18m).

Liam Livingstone was signed from the second set of players, joining Royal Challengers Bangalore for 8.75 crore (£796,000), and was later joined by opener Phil Salt for 11.5 crore (£1m).

Harry Brook was re-signed by Delhi Capitals for 6.25 crore (£590,000).

Brook had been picked by the Capitals in last December's mini auction but withdrew from the 2024 IPL following the death of his grandmother.

The Capitals also snapped up Australia batter Jake Fraser-McGurk, who hit four half-centuries for them last season, for 9 crore (£850,000).

Punjab Kings, who are coached by Ricky Ponting, signed Aussie all-rounders Glenn Maxwell for 4.2 crore (£390,000) and Marcus Stoinis for 11 crore (£1.03m).

Elsewhere, spinner Ravichandran Ashwin returned to Chennai Super Kings for 9.75 crore (£927,000) where he previously played from 2008 to 2015.

CSK, who are coached by former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming, signed Black Caps duo Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra for 6.25 (£590,000) and 4 (£378,000) crore respectively.

Among the other big-name Indian players to get deals were KL Rahul, who joined Delhi Capitals for 14 crore (£1.35m), and Mohammad Siraj to Gujarat Titans for 12.25 crore (£1.15m).

Venkatesh Iyer was the big earner though, taking home 23.75 crore (£2.1m).

England's Jonny Bairstow and former Australia opener David Warner are among the players to go unsold so far, but could still be signed.

A total of 72 players were picked up by the 10 franchises on Sunday, with up to 132 slots still available.

The second half of the auction will take place on Monday, and will be accelerated with teams submitting lists of players they are interested in overnight.

The likes of James Anderson, Ben Duckett, Sam Curran, Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali, Will Jacks and Gus Atkinson are among the England players still hoping to earn deals.

What players were signed in the IPL 2025 auction?

Chennai Super Kings: Noor Ahmed, Ravichandran Ashwin, Devon Conway, Syed Khaleel Ahmed, Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar.

Delhi Capitals: KL Rahul, Mitchell Starc, T. Natarajan, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Harry Brook, Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair.

Gujarat Titans: Jos Buttler, Mohammad Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Mahipal Lomror, Kumar Kushagra, Manav Suthar, Anuj Rawat, Nishant Sindhu.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Venkatesh Iyer, Anrich Nortje, Quinton De Kock, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande.

Lucknow Super Giants: Rishabh Pant, Avesh Khan, David Miller, Abdul Samad, Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Aryan Juyal.

Mumbai Indians: Trent Boult, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, Karn Sharma.

Punjab Kings: Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Yash Thakur, Harpreet Brar, Vishnu Vinod.

Rajasthan Royals: Jofra Archer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya Singh.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Josh Hazlewood, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Liam Livingstone, Rasikh Dar, Suyash Sharma.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Ishan Kishan, Mohammad Shami, Harshal Patel, Abhinav Manohar, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa, Simarjeet Singh, Atharva Taide.