IPL 2025: Ranking Teams based on final squads

A total of 228 players were sold in the IPL 2025 mega-auction, which happened on November 24 and 25 in Jeddah. Multiple reputed cricketers, such as David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, Steven Smith, Kane Williamson, Shardul Thakur, Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal among many others went unsold, which was surprising, given that all these players have done a good job in the previous editions of the IPL, some even led franchises.

Punjab Kings had the most money to spend in the auction, and they have managed to build a good squad that can very well challenge for the title in the coming years. Royal Challengers Bengaluru made some heads turn by not using RTM cards on Will Jacks and Mohammed Siraj, while Lucknow Super Giants broke the bank to acquire the services of star India keeper-batter Rishabh Pant. 

Mumbai Indians were relatively quiet for most of the auction as they retained five quality cricketers. At the same time, Kolkata Knight Riders’ goal was likely to get back the same set of players that have brought success in the past season and before that. 

Here’s how teams have already lined up and rated them based on their auction performance:

10. Rajasthan Royals - 5.5/10

Rajasthan Royals retained Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer and Sandeep Sharma ahead of the IPL 2025 mega-auction, Half of their job was done as the batting unit looked rock-solid, despite them leaving Jos Buttler. It was expected that the franchise would find a like-to-like replacement for Buttler and just get the England captain back into the squad but that didn’t happen.

Instead, they didn’t spend any bucks on openers. In case Jaiswal or Samson is injured, they don’t have anyone in the squad who can replace them. It is heavily concerning and one area that the team management should be worried about. Nitish Rana can fill the number three role, which was a good buy and Parag, Jurel and Hetmyer can be number four, five and six. Then again, no one in the squad can replace Hetmyer in case of any injury.

The bowling unit looks more-or-less sorted. Fazalhaq Farooqi was an excellent buy for INR 2 crore. Akash Madhwal and Tushar Deshpande are good options in the pace department alongside Sandeep. Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana will lead the spin department. Overall, the entire team looks slightly undercooked with no proper backup of important players. They spent heavily on retentions and missed out on the trick at the auction table. 

9. Royal Challengers Bengaluru - 6/10

With the amount of money they had at the start of the auction, one might have thought that they could make an extremely good squad, which could challenge for the title. They retained Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Yash Dayal and wanted to build a squad around that but their decision to not use RTM cards on Will Jacks and Mohammed Siraj was slightly strange. Especially Jacks, who went for only INR 5.25 crore.

Yet, they have signed some quality talents such as Josh Hazlewood, Phil Salt, Tim David, Nuwan Thushara and Liam Livingstone among others. They have also spent INR 11 crore on Jitesh Sharma and INR 10.75 crore on Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Overall, even though the team looks ready to challenge for the title, with the amount of money they had, RCB could have made a much stronger base.

They bought Devdutt Padikkal for INR 2 crore from the unsold category, who will arguably be their backup opener. However, his recent form in the cash-rich league is concerning and for the same reason, no other franchise showed interest in having him. Meanwhile, the bowling unit looks sorted with Bhuvneshwar, Hazlewood, Dayal, Rasikh Dar, Krunal Pandya and Rasikh Dar. Their middle order looks good as well but still, they miss the ‘X-Factor’ and will depend heavily on Salt and Kohli as other batters lack consistency.

Also Check: IPL 2025: Complete list of unsold players from mega auction

8. Gujarat Titans - 6.5//10

Gujarat Titans’ top order and bowling unit looks like a well-oiled machine but the middle order is something that can trouble them throughout the next season. The franchise retained Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, Sai Sudarsan, Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia, which is a very strong base and on top of that, they have added Jos Buttler for INR 15.75 crore, Mohammed Siraj for INR 12.25, Kagiso Rabada for INR 10.75 crore, Prasidh Krishna for INR 9.5 crore and Washington Sundar for INR 3.20 crore among others.

All these signings look excellent but they have the options of Anuj Rawat, Shahrukh, Mahipal Lomror and Glenn Phillips in the middle order. Consistency has been a problem for these players and that might bother them throughout the season and can spoil their campaign eventually. The top order will be covered by Buttler, Gill and Sai, which looks good, while Prasidh, Rabada, Sundar, Gerald Coetzee and Siraj, which can cause trouble to opponents.

However, they lack that firepower in the middle order, who can be consistent in delivering good performances. The top order will be under pressure for the same reason and in case they flop, the 2022 champions will struggle. 

7. Kolkata Knight Riders - 6.5/10

Kolkata Knight Riders retained Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana and Ramandeep Singh ahead of the IPL 2025 mega-auction. Half of their job was done before the auction, as all these players were proven match-winners and have done a brilliant job for the franchise. The goal was for them to get back as many players as they could from their title-winning campaign in 2024 but ultimately, they spent nearly half their budget on one single player.

KKR broke the bank as they acquired Venkatesh Iyer for a whopping INR 23.75 crore. He proved to be the third-costliest player in the mega-auction. To have him, the franchise had to let go of some of their key performers from the last season. In the end, they bid hard for Allah Ghazanfar but lost the battle to Mumbai. As they bid extremely heavily for Venkatesh, they missed out on some key players.

They have signed experienced players in Ajinkya Rahane and Manish Pandey but their credibility in modern-day T20 cricket is still a debate. Getting Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Manish Pandey, Anukul Roy and Vaibhav Arora back and signing Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje and Spencer Johnson was smart but they lack a solid Indian batter - someone like Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana. Other than that, the playing XI looks more or less sorted but there are doubts on backups.

6. Chennai Super Kings - 7/10

Chennai Super Kings retained Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Matheesha Pathirana, Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni ahead of the IPL 2025 mega-auctions. They built a strong core and added some of their players from the class of 2024 in Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway - which makes their batting unit extremely strong. However, the middle order looks slightly shaky.

The five-time champions Dube, Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Sam Curran and Jamie Overton are in the middle order, alongside Dhoni and Jadeja. That might not be enough to challenge for the title. With Dhoni in the side, one might expect him to do his magic and bring out the best in these players but it looks slightly pale. 

They invested heavily in Ravichandran Ashwin, which is a good buy, given the surface at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The bowling unit also features Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary and Pathirana, which is a decent unit. However, they could have done a better job for the middle order position as it now heavily depends on Dube.