India and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar wants the IPL to do away with the auction system, saying it causes a ‘mental toll’ on the players. He remembered how nervous he used to be in his initial auctions, even though he had started playing for India at the time.
RCB was Bhuvneshwar’s first team on a Rs. 6 lakh contract in 2010. In 2011, the now-defunct Pune Warriors India picked him for Rs. 20 lakh. In 2014, Sunrisers Hyderabad signed him for Rs. 4.25 crore, and after ten years at the franchise, which included a variety of auction and retention contracts, he was picked up by RCB again for his biggest contract yet, Rs. 10.75 crore, in 2025, in what turned out to be a superb signing.
“It’s a mental toll on players, big time, because I remember when, I think the auction happened in 2013-14, when SRH picked me, at that time I was playing for India, but you remain very nervous mentally,” Bhuvneshwar told Jatin Sapru in a YouTube podcast interview. “Even if you don’t say it, mentally you feel, ‘What will happen, what won’t happen?’ I won’t call it ‘mentally disturbed’, but you stay worried. I think—I know it’s irrelevant—but if someone gives the option, I would remove the auction, because it’s not right for players’ mentality,” he added.
Bhuvneshwar also remembered the 2025 auction, and how he was playing a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match on the day. He said before he took the field, Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants were in the bidding war for him, and when he came back, RCB had prevailed.
“When I was told RCB had bought me, I was a bit surprised, because—when the auction was going on there were two other teams; when I was told RCB bought me, I was like, ‘okay’,” he said. “But messages came from RCB, of course from the support staff, from the director, welcoming me and all those things. And I was happy to be part of a team with such a good fan base, such a big fan base. And when I first met the support staff, everyone was—but there was one simple thing in them: ‘if we win, that would be great; if we don’t win, it’s just one more year.’ So I think everyone was excited, they were prepared, but they were relaxed,” he added.
