IPL 2025: Spotlight on Dhoni, Pant, and Iyer as Excitement Builds

New Delhi, Dec 31 (NationPress) As the year 2024 wraps up with a dismal 184-run defeat against Australia in the Boxing Day Test held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the onset of the New Year is set to thrill fans with captivating matches, particularly the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season, which is slated to commence on March 14 and conclude on May 25.

Prior to the new season's kick-off, the 10 IPL franchises congregated for the auction in November to strengthen their rosters. With an unprecedented expenditure of Rs 639.15 crore, the teams acquired 182 players, including 62 foreign talents.

Indian wicketkeeper-batter and former captain of Delhi Capitals, Rishabh Pant, made history by becoming the priciest player in the tournament's history, being acquired by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for an eye-popping Rs 27 crore, while Shreyas Iyer was the second-most costly player, with a deal worth Rs 26.75 crore from Punjab Kings.

In addition to the star pair, all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer (purchased for Rs 23.75 crore by Kolkata Knight Riders), pacer Arshdeep Singh (acquired for Rs 18 crore by Punjab Kings), spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (also Rs 18 crore by Punjab Kings), England white-ball captain Jos Buttler (Rs 15.75 crore by Gujarat Titans), and wicketkeeper-batter K.L. Rahul (Rs 14 crore by Delhi Capitals) were among the top purchases during the two-day bidding event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Among uncapped players, Jammu & Kashmir pacer Rasikh Dar, who previously played for Delhi Capitals, emerged as the most expensive acquisition at Rs 6 crore, joining Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Punjab's Naman Dhir and Nehal Wadhera were snapped up by Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings for Rs 5.25 crore and Rs 4.20 crore, respectively.

Furthermore, the 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi from Bihar was signed by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 1.1 crore, making him the youngest player in IPL history to secure a contract.

Aside from new signings, attention will once again turn to veterans such as MS Dhoni ahead of the IPL 2025 season. Social media users collectively speculate that this will be the final season for the 42-year-old legend, while others hope he might continue for another year, a trend that has persisted in recent times.

Nonetheless, the five-time champions, Chennai Super Kings (CSK), are optimistic about Dhoni's participation in IPL 2025.

Additionally, it will mark the inaugural IPL season for senior players - Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja - following their international retirement from T20Is. The trio stepped back from the shortest format after India's T20 World Cup 2024 victory in Bridgetown, Barbados. Rohit and Kohli's recent performances in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series have sparked discussions regarding their retirement from Test cricket. Should these star batters decide to retire from red-ball cricket, their participation would only extend to ODI matches and the IPL, making it even more exhilarating for fans to witness their favorite stars.

As of now, these remain mere speculations, and final decisions will be made after the conclusion of the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney. Regardless of the unfolding scenarios, IPL 2025 is set to deliver another thrilling spectacle for billions of viewers worldwide.

All squads for the IPL 2025 season:

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Matheesha Pathirana, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Rachin Ravindra, R. Ashwin, Khaleel Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Vijay Shankar, Sam Curran, Shaik Rasheed, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary, Deepak Hooda, Gurjapneet Singh, Nathan Ellis, Jamie Overton, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddarth.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer, Quinton de Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Anrich Nortje, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Spencer Johnson, Luvnith Sisodia, Ajinkya Rahane, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, Umran Malik.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Travis Head, Mohammad Shami, Harshal Patel, Ishan Kishan, Rahul Chahar, Adam Zampa, Atharva Taide, Abhinav Manohar, Simarjeet Singh, Zeeshan Ansari, Jaydev Unadkat, Brydon Carse, Kamindu Mendis, Aniket Verma, Eshan Malinga, Sachin Baby.

Punjab Kings: Shashank Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Arshdeep Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Nehal Wadhera, Harpreet Brar, Vishnu Vinod, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Thakur, Marco Jansen, Josh Inglis, Lockie Ferguson, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harnoor Pannu, Kuldeep Sen, Priyansh Arya, Aaron Hardie, Musheer Khan, Suryansh Shedge, Xavier Bartlett, Pyla Avinash, Pravin Dubey.

Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Abishek Porel, Mitchell Starc, KL Rahul, Harry Brook, Jake Fraser-McGurk, T. Natarajan, Karun Nair, Sameer Rizvi, Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Faf du Plessis, Mukesh Kumar, Darshan Nalkande, Vipraj Nigam, Dushmantha Chameera, Donovan Ferreira, Ajay Mandal, Manvanth Kumar, Tripurana Vijay, Madhav Tiwari.

Lucknow Super Giants: Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Rishabh Pant, David Miller, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Avesh Khan, Abdul Samad, Aryan Juyal, Akash Deep, Himmat Singh, M. Siddharth, Digvesh Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Akash Singh, Shamar Joseph, Prince Yadav, Yuvraj Chaudhary, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Arshin Kulkarni, Matthew Breetzke.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Yash Dayal, Liam Livingstone, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Dar, Suyash Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Nuwan Thushara, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chhikara, Lungi Ngidi, Abhinandan Singh, Mohit Rathee.

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Nitish Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Singh, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kwena Maphaka, Kunal Rathore, Ashok Sharma.

Mumbai Indians: Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, Karn Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Deepak Chahar, Allah Ghazanfar, Will Jacks, Ashwani Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Reece Topley, Krishnan Shrijith, Raj Angad Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju, Bevon Jacobs, Arjun Tendulkar, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur.

Gujarat Titans: Rashid Khan, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Jos Buttler, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Nishant Sindhu, Mahipal Lomror, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Manav Suthar, Washington Sundar, Gerald Coetzee, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Sherfane Rutherford, Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Glenn Phillips, Karim Janat, Kulwant Khejroliya.