IPL 2025 Mega Auction: KKR’s Shah Rukh Khan And Punjab’s Ness Wadia Involved In Heated Verbal Battle During Meeting With BCCI

IPL 2025 Mega Auction: KKR’s Shah Rukh Khan And Punjab’s Ness Wadia Involved In Heated Verbal Battle During Meeting With BCCI

Shah Rukh Khan vs Ness Wadia Argument: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) owner Shah Rukh Khan and Punjab Kings (PBKS) co-owner Ness Wadia were reportedly engaged in a heated verbal battle during the meeting hosted by the BCCI and IPL council with the franchise owners on July 31. 

It has been learned that their argument escalated and turned into a full-blown squabble. Their argument was on the number of retentions for the IPL 2025 mega auction.

The BCCI and IPL members met with the IPL franchise owners on Wednesday at their headquarters in Mumbai to discuss various subjects, the most important of which was the number of retentions and Right To Match (RTM) cards for the IPL 2025 mega auction.

Shah Rukh Khan vs Ness Wadia Argument During the Meeting With BCCI

Cricbuzz has reported that Shah Rukh Khan and Ness Wadia got into a “heated argument” in front of the BCCI members over the number of retentions.

Shah Rukh reportedly wants as many as 8 retentions+RTM cards for the mega auction. However, Wadia wants the BCCI to allow only a few retentions.

Both the owners have their own beliefs. Shah Rukh and KKR would want to retain as many members of their title-winning team as possible. On the other hand, Wadia and PBKS are looking to revamp their squad; so they would want more quality players in the auction pool to pick from.

After the meeting, though, Wadia refuted these reports. He said,

“I have known Shah Rukh for more than 25 years. There is no animosity here. Everyone gave their views, and they had their opinions. At the end of the day, you have to look at all the stakeholders and do what’s best for all. That’s most important.”

 

While KKR won their third IPL title this year, PBKS have not reached the playoffs since 2014, when they lost the final to KKR.

Shah Rukh found support from SRH owner Kavya Maran, who too, like Shah Rukh, wishes to have at least 7 retentions+RTM cards since SRH were the runners-up and have a solid team right now. Maran also wishes to have no limit on the number of overseas players they can retain.

Maran said,

“It takes a lot of time to build a squad and as discussed it also takes quite a bit of time and investment for the younger players to mature. It has taken Abhishek Sharma three years to become consistent with his performances. You would agree that there are many such examples in other teams too.”