“You haven’t won even though it was happening every 3 or 5 years” – Aakash Chopra on some franchises asking for a mega auction ahead of IPL 2025

Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has observed that some franchises want the mega auction in the IPL as they aren’t happy with their current squad. The BCCI recently held a meeting with the IPL owners on July 31, in which the retention rules and other important issues were discussed.

It has been reported that some franchises want the mega auction whereas others are against the idea. Meanwhile, teams like Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings are yet to win a single IPL title despite playing in the tournament from the inaugural edition in 2008.

“Some franchises say – ‘How will we win if you don’t allow the reset or reboot button to be pressed? Our team is not good currently and we want to dismantle it totally. We might keep a few people and leave everyone else, and we want to start afresh. Otherwise, it’s unfair because you have to do a mega auction every third or fifth year’,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.

“It was heard that it was the Punjab team. It might be the Delhi team or the Bengaluru team because they have never won to date and if you do like this, they would never be able to win. The counterquestion to that is – You haven’t won even though it was happening every three or five years,” the former India opener added.

The renowned commentator noted that franchises won’t be interested in investing in players if mega auctions are held regularly.

“You should have won but since you have not won, you are slightly upset. Since you are upset, you want it to happen once again. If you keep playing auction-auction repeatedly, IPL (franchises) won’t be interested at all in investing in any player,” he noted.

Chopra is hopeful there should come a time when the mega auction should be done and dusted and the franchise should be given the onus of scouting and nurturing the young talent.

“Some franchises say – ‘Let’s invest, we should be made a part of it, we want to find, scout and invest, and it’s our responsibility to prepare players’. Then whether they find Ashutosh (Sharma) from somewhere or give opportunities to Shashank (Singh), there will be many such players who they want to find and invest in, and they need encouragement for that,” he said.

“There should be a time when you say that mega auctions should be done away with. Allow them to start building a team together. You might allow a squad of 25 only but allow them to keep players with them for a long time,” Chopra added.

IPL 2025 mega auction is likely to be hosted in December.