Playing 11 plus impact sub of players bought back by their former teams in IPL 2025 auction ft. Glenn Maxwell, Sam Curran
The IPL 2025 auction ended on Monday evening in Saudi Arabia. It was a memorable auction, with several top cricketing talents securing a contract from the IPL franchises.
Rishabh Pant emerged as the most expensive pick of the mega auction. Lucknow Super Giants went all out for the capped Indian wicketkeeper and signed him for a whopping ₹27 crore. This will be the first time Pant will play for a franchise other than Delhi Capitals.
While Pant will play for a new team this season, there were several players who returned to their ex-teams at the mega-auction. Here's a playing XI of such players.
(Please Note: Players returning to their former teams for the first time after the IPL 2023 season are only considered for this list)
Openers - Devdutt Padikkal and Ajinkya Rahane
The left-hand-right-hand pair of Devdutt Padikkal and Ajinkya Rahane will open the batting for this unique IPL 2025 team. Both capped Indian batters remained unsold in the first round of the mega-auction, but after that, their former franchises signed them at their respective base prices.
Devdutt Padikkal has returned to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for the first time since 2021. In 2020, Padikkal won the Emerging Player of the Season award while playing for RCB. Meanwhile, Ajinkya Rahane will be seen in a Kolkata Knight Riders jersey for the first time after IPL 2022.
Middle order - Karun Nair, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell (wk), Tim David, Sam Curran and Ravichandran Ashwin
The middle-order majorly features overseas all-rounders. Australian stars Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell will reunite at the Punjab Kings once again. Both players turned up for the Kings together in 2016 and 2017.
Maxwell is capable of wicketkeeping as well. Since not a single specialist wicketkeeper returned to his former team, Maxwell will have to don the gloves behind the stumps for this team.
Tim David is back to Royal Challengers Bengaluru for the first time after IPL 2021. RCB was the first team to sign David and he will don the red jersey again.
Meanwhile, English all-rounder Sam Curran has returned to the Chennai Super Kings after a gap of three seasons. Curran won IPL 2021 with CSK in his last season as a part of the yellow franchise.
Indian batter Karun Nair captained the Delhi Daredevils in a few matches of IPL 2017. While he may not get a chance to lead the Delhi franchise in IPL 2025, he is back in the squad for the IPL 2025 season.
Another capped Indian player, who has returned to his former team is Ravichandran Ashwin. The off-spin bowling all-rounder will play for Chennai Super Kings in 2025, making his first season in the yellow jersey after 2015.
Bowlers - Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Mohit Sharma and Karn Sharma (Impact Player)
The pace attack of this unique IPL 2025 team features the Indian trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan and Mohit Sharma. Kumar has returned to RCB for the first time after 2010 while Avesh is back in the Lucknow Super Giants squad after a gap of one year.
Mohit will don the Delhi Capitals jersey for the first time since IPL 2020. Leg-spinner Karn Sharma will be the Impact Player of this team. Sharma has now earned a contract from the Mumbai Indians for the first time after IPL 2017.