The Outside Edge Cricket Podcast · Rudra Saraf

IPL AUCTION 2025

·59 min·3 clips

Delhi Capitals got KL Rahul for 14 crores, plus Jake Fraser-McGurk, Harry Brook, and Mitchell Starc.

Rudra opens by welcoming listeners back and setting the stage for a full auction review. Kane joins him, and the two quickly place the discussion inside the two-day IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. They treat the auction like a squad-building puzzle rather than a simple list of purchases. The focus stays on what each team wanted, what they actually got, and how those pieces might fit once the season begins. Gujarat Titans come up first as one of the clearest winners. Their marquee additions include Joss Butler, Mohamed Siraj, and Prasad Krishna, along with a deeper bench of backups. The hosts talk through why that mix looks strong on paper. They point to the retained core, including Gil, Rashid, Rahul Tevatia, and Shah Rukh Khan, as part of why the side feels so settled. From there the conversation moves into the broader challenge of putting together a best XI from the auction results. The tone stays conversational, with each idea tested against another possible combination. The Kolkata Knight Riders section turns into a longer back-and-forth about batting order and squad balance. The hosts debate where Ankrish Raghuvanshi should bat and how Venkatesh Iyer fits into the middle order. They also discuss the value of Ajinkya Rahane and Manish Pandey as experienced voices in the group. Captaincy comes up as a real theme, with the squad apparently offering more than one plausible option. Then the attention shifts to bowling depth, especially the death overs. They are uneasy about how some of these sides will handle the final overs. The foreign-player picture matters too, since Sunil Narayan, Quentin de Kock, Andre Russell, and Andrik Naukia shape what KKR can realistically field. The hosts also weigh whether Narayan should stay at the top or whether another batting setup makes more sense. That discussion keeps circling back to trade-offs rather than perfect answers. A similar logic runs through the rest of the episode. The two hosts keep building XIs out loud, revising them, and trying to get closer to the best balance of form, roles, and conditions. The final stretch opens back up to the tournament as a whole. They expect a very competitive season and think several teams have built strong cores. The episode ends on anticipation rather than certainty, with the season itself framed as the real test of all these auction moves.

As heard by us

A brisk IPL 2025 auction conversation that turns big buys into real XI questions.

This IPL 2025 auction conversation works best when it gets practical. It moves past the headline buys and into squad balance, backup plans, and the kind of role-fit questions that decide a season.

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Why you'd press play

You want a clear read on the IPL 2025 mega auction in Jeddah, including who looked strongest on paper.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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