A total of 182, including 62 overseas players, were sold at the auction, with the ten teams spending INR 639.15 crore between them. This included the record for the most expensive buy ever being broken twice on the same day, as well as the enlistment of a 13-year-old, the youngest in the history of the auction.

Also read: IPL 2025: The best XI and Impact Players for each team after the auction

The following players, despite being popular names, did not find any takers. We have assembled them in the balance of a T20 XI, maintaining the usual 7-4 domestic to overseas ratio.

Openers

The explosive left-right combination of David Warner and Prithvi Shaw. They opened together 22 times for Delhi Capitals, scoring at a partnership run rate of 9.27. Warner might have retired, but his T20I strike rate this year was 152. He was also the Orange Cap winner thrice, and had led the Sunrisers Hyderabad to their only IPL title. Shaw strikes at 151 in T20 powerplays.

Middle order

Mayank Agarwal comes in at three. He did not miss a single IPL edition for the last 14 years, and has played everywhere from Nos.1 and 7 for five different teams. In the top three, he has hit a century and 12 half-centuries.

Jonny Bairstow has an impressive IPL record overall, striking at 145, and smashed a 45-ball century just last year for Punjab Kings, as well as batting No.4 at the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Sarfaraz Khan has the ability to be destructive against spin, and an impressive array of strokes, even if we’ve seen more of him against the red ball recently. At one point, he was the youngest ever to play the IPL, although he has not played in the tournament since 2021.

At six, we’ve got another overseas star-in-the-making in Dewald Brevis, once termed Baby AB. Now 21, he had burst onto the scene at the 2022 U19 World Cup, and made headlines with a 57-ball 162 in the CSA T20 Challenge, the youngest South African to score a men's T20 ton. But he has had an inconsistent few years since, playing just three games at Mumbai Indians last year.

Bowlers

Shardul Thakur is probably one of the most surprising names here. He was an India regular until last year, has taken 94 IPL wickets and can bowl in different phases. His batting is also a bonus down the order – his strike rate at No.7 in T20s is a whopping 189.

Among the spinners, googly specialist Piyush Chawla and off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman make a potent pair. Only Yuzvendra Chahal has taken more wickets than Chawla in IPL history, while Mujeeb is Afghanistan’s third-highest wicket-taker in T20Is. On the second day of the auction, Chawla took 4-0-12-4 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

For the first of our final two slots we have Shivam Mavi, the 2018 U19 World Cup quick who has had an injury-riddled run with KKR until 2022. He was bowling at 140kph in his teens, and debuted for India in T20Is last year. His last two IPL seasons have been with GT and LSG, but he did not get a game. He can swing the bat too.

To partner him, there’s Navdeep Saini, capable of hitting speeds upwards of 140kph with the new ball. Saini is currently a reserve bowler on the Australia tour, and has taken 73 wickets at an economy of 7.64 in all T20s.

Impact Player options

Batters: Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson (if three uncapped players)

Bowlers: Umesh Yadav, Kartik Tyagi

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