Meet Naman Dhir: The IPL player for whom MI outbid RR, paying 17 times more in the 2025 Mega Auction.

New Delhi: The IPL mega auction kicked off with a bang as franchises went all out with their bids. Surprisingly, the five-time champions Mumbai Indians remained relatively quiet in the bidding war for marquee players. However, they displayed keen interest in uncapped players, engaging in a fierce battle with Rajasthan Royals to retain one of their own, Naman Dhir.

Naman Dhir has also played for Mumbai Indians last season. This year too the franchise wanted to keep him with itself and hence it added this player to its team, foiling all the tricks of Rajasthan.

Used RTM Card:
Apart from Rajasthan, Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings also bid for Naman. There was a fierce fight between the three. Rajasthan placed the last bid of 3.40 crores for this player. Since he was in Mumbai last year, this franchise was asked about using RTM and the franchise said yes to it. Then Rajasthan bid 5.25 crores for RTM and Mumbai accepted it.

Updated squad after at

Meet our new buys: https://t.co/1sqMX2Q6x0#MumbaiMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians #TATAIPLAuction pic.twitter.com/O3bi67GHcq

— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) November 24, 2024

Naman had entered the team with a base price of 30 lakhs, but he earned almost 17 times more money. He got this money for his ability. Naman is a stormy batsman and has shown his talent in domestic cricket. Last year, Naman played seven matches for Mumbai in which he scored a half-century in one match.

Smashed two centuries:
Naman came into the limelight by playing in Punjab’s local tournament Sher-e-Punjab. In this tournament, he scored 466 runs in 12 innings which included two centuries. He was second in the list of highest run-scorers in this tournament. In domestic cricket, Naman has played 13 T30 matches in which he has scored 191 runs, but his strike rate is strong. He has scored runs at a strike rate of 170.53. This shows that he is a suitable batsman for T20. That is why Delhi, Punjab, and Rajasthan fought for him, but Mumbai won the match.