India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav was honest enough in admitting that the players are indeed thinking about the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction and retentions, even when they are in South Africa for the four-match T20I series, which began on Friday in Durban. The IPL mega auction ahead of the 2025 season will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on November 24 and 25, just a week after the T20I series between India and South Africa will come to an end.
During the toss for the first T20I between India and South Africa, Suryakumar Yadav was asked about whether the players on his side, are looking at the upcoming IPL auction as the players’ retentions were recently announced by all the ten franchises.
“Absolutely, see it is a human tendency, you cannot lie about it that you don’t think about it. At the end of the day, we all our humans, we do talk about it but at the end of the day, when you come here, there is a series to play. Exciting times ahead, a series to play, a lot at stake,” said Suryakumar Yadav at the toss.
On the other hand, the Proteas skipper Aiden Markram, said that his focus remains on the series against India, and he and his team, are not looking too far ahead.
Answering the same question, Markram said, “We are quite a competitive team and the discussions have been how can we get positive results.”
Markram was not retained by SunRisers Hyderabad
Recently, SunRisers Hyderabad had announced their players retentions, and the franchise decided to stick with Pat Cummins, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen and Travis Head. Aiden Markram has been released by the franchise, and it needs to be seen who picks up Markram in the upcoming mega auction.
On the other hand, Suryakumar Yadav has been retained by Mumbai Indians, alongside Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Tilak Varma.
Talking about the upcoming mega auction, an impressive total of 1,574 players (1,165 Indian and 409 overseas) have signed up, to go under the hammer, come November 24 and 25. The list includes 320 capped players, 1,224 uncapped players, and 30 players from Associate Nations.
Coming back to the 1st T20I between India and South Africa, Aiden Markram won the toss, and opted to bowl first.
Here are the full playing XIs
South Africa (Playing XI): Ryan Rickelton(w), Aiden Markram(c), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Patrick Kruger, Marco Jansen, Andile Simelane, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Nqabayomzi Peter.
India (Playing XI): Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.