The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is busy finalising the foreign city for the mega auction for the IPL 2025.

Saudi Arabia is a strong option

According to the latest Cricbuzz report, the BCCI is considering organising the IPL 2025 mega auction in a Saudi Arabian city. The same report claimed Riyadh or Jeddah are the front-runners to host the upcoming two-day mega auction, which is expected to be held in the last week of November. 

Dubai, the popular city in the United Arab Emirates, hosted the last IPL auction in December 2023. It is still an option for the upcoming mega auction.

Although Saudi Arabia is reportedly costlier than Dubai, it is not a big problem for the franchise owners or the BCCI. However, the major issue is to identify a suitable venue or hotel for the mega auction. 

London was the initial choice for the upcoming two-day mega auction venue. However, due to the cold weather, that idea was dropped. 

Franchises are busy before the auction

We already know the retention and mega-auction rules for the IPL 2025. The pre-auction retention deadline has been set at 5 PM IST on October 31, 2024.

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Each of the ten franchises can retain a maximum of six players before the deadline for pre-auction retention. Out of these six players’ retention, each team can retain a maximum of five Indian or overseas players and a maximum of two uncapped players. 

If a team doesn’t go for maximum retention, the team can enjoy the Right to Match (RTM) in the auction for the remaining or unused numbers. 

MS Dhoni can confirm soon

On the other hand, Cricbuzz has another report on MS Dhoni. While the story isn’t clear yet about Dhoni’s participation in the IPL 2025, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will meet him soon in Mumbai, probably in mid-October. 

The CSK legend can also be retained as an uncapped player due to the return of the previous rule, where an inactive Indian cricketer in international cricket for at least five years can also be called an uncapped player. However, an uncapped player can be retained in the squad for only INR 4 crore.