While an extensive pool of 577 players will be up for grabs, only a select set of players will go under the hammer in the first phase of the two-day extravaganza in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

While foreign players were the attraction in the auction, it was the Indian players who gathered headlines with Pant breaking the IPL record for most expensive player with a price tag of $3.2mn with Shreyas Iyer being the second-most expensive player with $3.

Rishabh Pant's childhood coaches were proud of their ward as he became the most expensive player in IPL history.

Iyer broke the record of Arshdeep Singh, who was sold just moments before for INR 18 crore while being retained by the Punjab Kings using the Right-to-Match (RTM) card.

Venkatesh Iyer rejoins Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping Rs 23.75 crore at the IPL 2025 Auction, becoming the third most expensive buy. The all-rounder was instrumental in KKR's recent success, including their IPL 2024 victory.