The spotlight will be on Cameron Green, Liam Livingstone and Ravi Bishnoi as all ten franchises gear up for the IPL 2026 auction, set to take place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. It will mark the third straight IPL auction to be held outside India, following Dubai in 2024 and Jeddah in 2025.
All ten teams are expected to loosen their purse strings in pursuit of marquee talent as they look to build squads capable of winning the IPL 2026 trophy. A total of 77 slots are available, including 31 for overseas players. Three-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have the most vacancies with 13 slots, followed by 2016 winners Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) with 10.
From a long list of 1,355 players, 359 have been shortlisted — 244 Indians and 115 overseas players. Forty players have entered the auction at the maximum base price of Rs 2 crore, with Bishnoi and Venkatesh Iyer the only Indians in that bracket.
Australia’s seam-bowling all-rounder Green is expected to be the biggest draw, owing to the skewed demand-supply ratio typical of a mini IPL auction, with bids for him projected to cross Rs 25 crore.
Apart from Bishnoi and Green, the England duo of Liam Livingstone and Jamie Smith, New Zealand pacer Matt Henry, wicketkeeper-batter Tim Seifert and South Africa batter David Miller are also likely to attract strong interest from all ten teams. Sri Lanka pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who was released by Chennai Super Kings (CSK), is also expected to be in demand.
KKR head into the auction with the largest purse of Rs 64.30 crore, while five-time champions CSK have Rs 43.40 crore, with both teams looking to rebuild after disappointing IPL 2025 campaigns.
In contrast, five-time champions Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings may have relatively quiet auctions, with purse sizes of Rs 2.75 crore and Rs 11.5 crore, respectively.
However, no overseas player can earn more than Rs 18 crore, regardless of the winning bid. Under the IPL’s “maximum-fee” rule, the cap is fixed at the lower of the highest retention slab — Rs 18 crore — or the top price from the previous mega auction, which was Rs 27 crore for India wicketkeeper-batter and Lucknow Super Giants captain Rishabh Pant.
Among the uncapped players, Jammu and Kashmir seam-bowling all-rounder Auqib Nabi and Rajasthan pacer Ashok Sharma have drawn interest from coaches and scouts who have been closely tracking state-run T20 leagues and the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Uttar Pradesh all-rounder Prashant Veer, Rajasthan wicketkeeper-batter Kartik Sharma and Kerala left-arm wrist-spinner Vignesh Puthur — who featured for Mumbai Indians last season before a shin injury curtailed his stint — are also on the radar of all ten teams.
The auction will move into an accelerated round after the first 70 players are presented, with franchises nominating unsold names for further bidding. As this is a mini-auction, the Right to Match (RTM) card will not be available.
–IANS
