2025 IPL Auction: South African cricketers fetch millions in Saudi Arabia

KAGISO Rabada will not play for the Punjab Kings next season as he was snapped by the Gujarat Titans in the auction in Jeddah. AFP

KAGISO Rabada will not play for the Punjab Kings next season as he was snapped by the Gujarat Titans in the auction in Jeddah. AFP

Published 23h ago

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PROTEAS fast bowler Kagiso Rabada walked away with R23 million in the Indian Premier League Auction Saudi Arabia where the brains-trust from all 10 franchises came together to secure strong enough squads to compete in the 2025 edition of the tournament.

Having not been retained by the Punjab Kings, where he plied his trade for the past few seasons in the IPL, the 29-year-old right-arm quick was picked up by the Gujarat Titans.

Joining Rabada in Gujarat is Proteas teammate and fast bowler Gerald Coetzee (R5 Million), while David Miller (R16 Million) has left Gujarat for the Lucknow Super Giants where he is joined by Aiden Markram (R4 Million) and Matthew Breetzke (R1 Million).

While Heinrich Klaasen was retained for R48 Million by the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Marco Jansen was released to be auctioned and the left-arm fast bowler was picked up by the Punjab Kings for a whopping R15 Million.

Having impressed in two consecutive seasons here at home in the SA20 where he plays for the MI Cape Town, Ryan Rickelton has finally earned an IPL contract as the Mumbai Indians invested R2 Million on the top-order batter.

The Mumbai Indians have however released young fast bowler Kwena Maphaka only for the youngster to be roped in by the Rajasthan Royals for a decent R3 Million price tag.

Anrich Nortje, following a lean patch in the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League earlier this year, was not retained by the Delhi Capitals for the 2025 edition.

The back injury that the Proteas fast bowler had sustained in September 2023 had ruled him out of action until he could complete a comeback this year in March, only a few weeks before he boarded a flight to India with less than a handful of CSA T20 Challenge games under his belt.

Next year, Nortje will turn out for the defending champions, the Kolkata Knight Riders, as he was sold for R13.9 Million at the auction in Saudi. Quinton de Kock will join Nortje in Kolkata having been sold for R7.7

Having not played a single match in three consecutive seasons, Proteas fast bowler Lungi Ngidi has earned another contract with the Royal Challengers Bangalore,who splashed R2.1 Million for him.

Though the fast bowler has found it hard to break into the playing XI since 2021, he has proven to be an asset with his variations in the shortest format of the game for the Proteas and will certainly add value at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium alongside Australia’s quick Josh Hazlewood.