IPL Auction 2026: The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 mini-auction will take place on Tuesday (December 16) at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, raising the bar for cricket excitement across the globe. The IPL 2026 auction will begin at 1:00 PM UAE Local Time (GST) on Tuesday, December 16, 2025.
With Cameron Green being hyped as the best player of this auction, it will be interesting to see if any team can make a new record-breaking bid for a single player. Rishabh Pant, who is currently the most expensive player in IPL history, was signed by the Lucknow Super Giants for INR 27 crore in last year’s mega auction.
Three-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders will enter the auction with a purse of ₹64.30 crore and can sign 13 players. Shah Rukh Khan’s team has six overseas slots available and is expected to acquire the services of Australian all-rounder Cameron Green and Sri Lankan pacer Mathisha Pathirana.
Five-time champions Chennai Super Kings are also looking for major changes after finishing at the bottom of the points table for the first time in the 2025 edition. They have a purse of ₹43.40 crore and a total of nine slots available. The winners and runner-ups of IPL 2025, RCB and PBKS, have balanced squads.
Their first priority will be to sign Pathirana back, and in addition to him, they will also look to find a long-term replacement for Ravindra Jadeja. Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Capitals, and Lucknow Super Giants also have purses of over ₹20 crore, while five-time champions Mumbai Indians have only ₹2.75 crore.
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IPL Auction 2026: Where to Watch?
The IPL 2026 mini auction will be streamed live on the Jio Hotstar app and website, while television coverage will be available on the Star Sports Network.
IPL Auction 2026: Date and Time
The highly anticipated IPL 2026 Auction is set to start at 2:30 PM IST, and the 10 IPL teams can sign a total of 77 players.
IPL Auction 2026: Players To Watch Out For
Australian all-rounder Cameron Green and England wicketkeeper-batsman Jamie Smith. Both are excellent T20 players, and many teams could be in line for them. Besides them, keep an eye on uncapped stars like Vignesh Puthur (who played for the Mumbai Indians last year), Saurashtra left-arm wrist-spinner Crainsh Fuletra, Rajasthan’s big-hitter Kartik Sharma, Delhi’s Salil Arora, and Jammu and Kashmir’s Aaqib Nabi.
IPL Auction 2026: Remaining Purse For All 10 IPL Teams
| Franchise | Total Money Spent (Rupees) | Salary Cap Available (Rupees) |
| CSK | 81.6 | 43.4 |
| DC | 103.2 | 21.8 |
| GT | 112.1 | 12.9 |
| KKR | 60.7 | 64.3 |
| LSG | 102.05 | 22.95 |
| MI | 122.25 | 2.75 |
| PBKS | 113.5 | 11.5 |
| RCB | 108.6 | 16.4 |
| RR | 108.95 | 16.05 |
| SRH | 99.5 | 25.5 |
IPL Auction 2026: Remaining Player Slots For Each Team
| Franchise | No. of Players | No. of Overseas Players | Total Slots Available | Total Overseas Slots Available |
| CSK | 16 | 4 | 9 | 4 |
| DC | 17 | 3 | 8 | 5 |
| GT | 20 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| KKR | 12 | 2 | 13 | 6 |
| LSG | 19 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| MI | 20 | 7 | 5 | 1 |
| PBKS | 21 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| RCB | 17 | 6 | 8 | 2 |
| RR | 16 | 7 | 9 | 1 |
| SRH | 15 | 6 | 10 | 2 |
IPL Auction 2026: How The Player Sets Work
For the IPL 2026 auction, 359 players have been divided into 42 sets, grouped by their primary discipline—batsman, bowler, all-rounder, and wicketkeeper—and their capped or uncapped status. Each set is numbered, and the auction will proceed sequentially.
Set 1 features capped batsmen and includes names like Cameron Green, David Miller, and Prithvi Shaw, while previously uncapped players appear in Set 6. Unlike the mega auction, there are no marquee sets. Players have a maximum base price of ₹2 crore and a minimum base price of ₹40 lakh.
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IPL Auction 2026: A Peek Into General Auction Rules
According to IPL rules, each team can register a maximum squad of 25 players. The number of foreign cricketers per team is limited to eight. The upcoming mini-auction will also not include mega-auction concepts like the Right-to-Match (RTM).
Unlike the previous edition’s mega auction, which allowed franchises to completely rebuild their squads, the upcoming IPL auction will be a smaller format, with most teams primarily focused on filling and addressing specific gaps in their lineups.
IPL Auction 2026: 350+ Players To Be Auctioned Off To 10 IPL Teams
A total of 1,355 cricketers from across the world had initially registered for the IPL 2026 auction, which was later reduced to around 350 players.
A total of 359 players—246 Indians and 113 overseas players—will be part of the IPL 2026 auction pool, with 10 franchises bidding to fill a maximum of 77 slots, with 31 reserved for overseas players.
According to reports, 43 overseas and two Indian players have listed themselves in the maximum base price category of INR 2 crore to participate in the 2026 IPL auction.