As all would now know that Ravichandran Ashwin has conducted a successful auction of his auction. Yes, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) released spinner organized his own Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mock auction, where all the ten franchises assembled their rosters for the upcoming season. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), who let go of their skipper KL Rahul prior to the IPL 2025 mega auction, has roped another star keeper in Ishan Kishan, as per Ashwin’s auction. LSG’s mock auction owners bid the highest for the ex-Mumbai Indians (MI) at Rs 14.50 crore.
IPL ‘mock’ Auction: KL Rahul replacement, Ishan Kishan!
With a record of 105 IPL matches and 2644 runs, Kishan is expected to be one of the hottest properties at the real auction. Similarly, he bagged a lot of attraction in Ashwin’s mock auction too. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) started the bid at Rs 5 crore; Punjab Kings (PBKS) joined them but bowed out after Kishan got a Rs 10 crore bid from CSK. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) took control from there on and took him home for Rs 14.5 crore.
Funnily enough, this is a pay cut for Kishan. For those who’ve forgotten, MI had bought the wicketkeeper back for a whopping Rs 15.25 crore at the 2022 mega auction, and if the same pattern is followed at the Jeddah auction, Kishan would earn Rs 75 crore less.
More on IPL Auction
Prithvi Shaw for just Rs 2.5cr?
Incredibly, Prithvi Shaw, who was once retained for Rs 8 crore, saw his stocks go down as he was sold for just Rs 2.5cr. Shaw, who is touted to have a massive potential, has fallen down the pecking order. He was part of the BGT series last time too but now is nowhere near the Indian team. He was recently dropped from Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy squad to due to fitness issues. He will feature in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Apart from this, Lucknow splashed Rs 9.5 crore on Krunal Pandya, who has been with the franchise since 2022. Other great signings include Jake Fraser-McGurk (9.5 cr), David Miller (Rs 8cr) and Marcus Stoinis (Rs 12cr) via RTM. All four overseas players in the playing XI are batters, showcasing the dearth of top quality Indian batters in the market.