Iyer To Lead, KL Rahul To Open; Best Combined XI For IPL 2025 From Mega Auction
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Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant - (Source:@Johns/X.com)
All ten teams have completed their squad to compete for the glorious title in IPL 2025. Over 600 crores were spent on 184 players in the auction to build a strong core. Meanwhile, the 12 marquee players also went for big and broke the banks and fans' expectations.
This article will shed light on the best combined XI of the players who went under the hammer in the recently concluded mega auction in Jeddah.
Opening
KL Rahul And Jos Buttler
Jos Buttler bagged the most amount by an opener in the IPL 2025 auction as he was bought by Gujarat Titans for a whopping 15.75 crores. Buttler has a great record, batting at the top and brought huge success to Rajasthan Royals in the previous IPL seasons.
He would be partnered with KL Rahul, who needs no introduction. Rahul is known for his consistency, and be it Punjab Kings or Lucknow Super Giants. It is hard to find someone ahead of Rahul in the pecking order to open the innings in the list of players.
Middle-Order
Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, And Marcus Stoinis
Shreyas Iyer, who was bought for a whopping 26.75 crores by Punjab Kings will be at number 3 and lead the side. Notably, Iyer's captaincy led KKR to their third IPL title in 2024, where he also performed with the bat.
Meanwhile, Pant, who broke the record and became the highest-paid cricketer in the history of IPL. Notably, Pant returned to the cash-studded league in 2024 after skipping the 2023 edition because of his car crash. Further, Rishabh can accelerate the innings and shift gears in no time to better the run rate of any franchise.
Also, Marcus Stoinis is one of the best middle-order batters as he can hit the big sixes with his powerful shots and also chip in with four overs of medium pace to put breaks on the opponent's scoring rate.
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Lower Middle-Order
Ashutosh Sharma and Marco Jansen
At No.6, you need a batter, who can provide a finishing touch and put a respectable total on the board. Ashutosh showed a glimpse of that in IPL 2024 when he whacked bowlers across the park and even did not hesitate to take on Jasprit Bumrah.
Meanwhile, Marco Jansen has emerged as the perfect No. 7 batter. Jansen becomes unstoppable with the bat on his days and is a consistent performer with the ball, particularly the new ball, as he swings it both ways to trouble batters.
Bowlers
Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal, T Natarajan, Mohammed Shami
Starc, who went to DC for 11.75 crores will trouble the batters with the new ball and also put breaks on the scoring rate in the death overs with toe-crushing yorkers.
Similarly, T Natarajan also dons a similar role as he, apart from the injuries, has been effective with his yorkers in the death overs. Mohammed Shami too needs no introduction as he is one of the most lethal bowlers in world cricket with the new ball.
In the spin department, Yuzvendra Chahal, who is the leading wicket-taker in IPL history, went to PBKS for 18 crores and is all set to bamboozle the batters with his spin.
IPL Combined XI
Jos Buttler (Wk) ✈️
KL Rahul
Shreyas Iyer (C)
Rishabh Pant
Marcus Stoinis ✈️
Ashutosh Sharma
Marco Jansen ✈️
Mitchell Starc ✈️
Mohammed Shami
T Natarajan
Yuzvendra Chahal
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