Following the retentions from all 10 Indian Premier League teams getting official at the end of October, the proceedings move to the Saudi Arabian land of Jeddah for a two-day auction where 577 names will go under the hammer after getting shortlisted from the pool of 1,

India's wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant became the most expensive player to be sold in the Indian Premier League, beating defending champion KKR captain Shreyas Iyer.

Both DC and PBKS needed a captain going into the auction and focussed on Shreyas, who had won IPL 2024 as captain of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Both teams had big purses in hand and were willing to spend up to a third of that on a captain - remember that there have been just eight captains who have won the IPL,