IPL teams showcasing home-state players during the 2025 season (Image: IPL)
The cricket nation aka India is known for having emotional fans. Even though in the structure of the game, the rise of a player is often judged by the performances given in the domestic cricket circuit. However, on several occasions, due to a busy schedule and most matches being played in the red-ball format, fans and cricket experts alike tend to overlook the contributions of a budding cricketer.
However, with the advent of T20 cricket and India’s biggest cricket carnival, the Indian Premier League (IPL), a new platform found its way into the hearts of people. With its growing dominance over the years, IPL never failed to remain the centre of attraction. The reason? Young budding cricketers often get a fitting platform to share the dressing room with renowned international cricket stars and also make a name for themselves by showcasing their talent against the best in the business. However, amid the glitter of IPL, some franchises also started focussing on picking young budding players and training in them their world-class academies in what could be deemed as an ‘investment in the future’.
While all the good is undergoing in the background of the IPL franchises, fans often debate what a missing factor they saw during the initial years of the IPL. That missing charm was the number of players representing an IPL franchise locally. While some may argue that with the changes in the rules regarding the retentions and the cut-throat competition to win the coveted IPL title, teams may have lost their way of giving that local touch to have a closer bonding with the respective fans.
Quite fascinating as it may get, looking at the recently concluded IPL 2025 Mega Auction, it may be apt to say that some franchises tried to bring that local flavour in their time to strengthen a team’s connection with their fanbase. Surprisingly, while the pickings done by the Bangalore-based IPL franchise, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), left the fans baffled yet again, RCB have certainly surpassed all other franchises in picking the players of Karnataka state. As a result, they ended up picking as many as eight players for the IPL 2025 season.
Following them closely are Delhi Capitals (DC), who roped in six players from the Union Territory (home state governed by the Central government). Joining the race in the third spot are Mumbai Indians (MI), who bought five players who belong to Maharastra state. When it comes to the fourth and fifth spots, one of the most popular IPL franchises- Chennai Super Kings (CSK) went for four players from the state of Tamil Nadu. Their neighbours Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) picked three players from the state of Andhra Pradesh, to claim the fifth spot.
Hence, to sum it up, the overall distribution indicates the unwavering commitment of the IPL franchises to increase the regional representation in the globally acclaimed league as time slips by in a bid to increase the engagement with the fans for the better.
Also Check: What is the state-wise distribution of players sold at IPL 2025 Mega Auction?
IPL Teams with the highest number of home-state players
IPL Franchise | Number of Home Players | State |
Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 08 | Karnataka |
Delhi Capitals | 06 | New Delhi/Delhi (UT) |
Mumbai Indians | 05 | Maharashtra |
Chennai Super Kings | 04 | Tamil Nadu |
Sunrisers Hyderabad | 03 | Andhra Pradesh |