The Indian Premier League opens its "mega-auction" later Sunday in Saudi Arabia with teams primed to splash out millions of dollars on world-class cricketers for the lucrative Twenty20 tournament.

Among the standout names are Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul, part of the 12 marquee players. These three captains were released by their respective franchises ahead of the retention deadline.

A total of 12 marquee players, including Indian stars like Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul have created a lot of buzz within the cricket fraternity.

Legendary James Anderson has entered the auction at 42 years and 117 days, thus making him the oldest among the 577 final list of names. Bihar's 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi is the youngest of the lot in the IPL 2025 mega auction.

Saudi Arabia hosts this year's Indian Premier League player auction in a partnership between a money-spinning cricket tournament expanding its global reach and a kingdom using sports to improve its image.