The IPL 2026 auction will be held at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League season.
The mini-auction is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. IST and will be broadcast live on television and digital platforms in India.
A total of 359 players — comprising 246 Indian cricketers and 113 overseas players — will be available in the auction pool, with the league’s 10 franchises set to bid for a maximum of 77 slots. Of these, 31 positions are reserved for foreign players.
Under IPL regulations, each franchise can have a maximum squad size of 25 players, with a cap of eight overseas cricketers per team.
Unlike the previous mega auction, which allowed teams to rebuild their squads from scratch, the 2026 auction will be a mini version, with franchises largely focused on filling specific gaps and fine-tuning their existing line-ups.
However, teams such as Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad are expected to be more active following underwhelming performances last season.
Two-time champions KKR have the biggest task, with 13 slots to fill after completing their retentions for IPL 2026.
Collectively, franchises will have ₹237.55 crore remaining in their auction purses. KKR lead the list with ₹64.3 crore, followed by CSK with ₹43.40 crore and SRH with ₹25.50 crore.
Right-to-Match (RTM) cards, a feature of mega auctions, will not be available in this mini-auction.
The 359 players have been divided into 42 sets based on discipline — batters, bowlers, all-rounders and wicketkeepers — as well as capped and uncapped status. The auction will proceed sequentially by set number.
Set 1 includes capped batters such as Cameron Green, David Miller and Prithvi Shaw, while uncapped players will appear from Set 6 onwards. There will be no marquee set, unlike in mega auctions.
Players have been assigned base prices ranging from ₹40 lakh to a maximum of ₹2 crore.
The IPL will also enforce a salary cap for overseas players at this auction. The maximum amount payable will be the lower of either the highest retention price of ₹18 crore or the highest bid from the previous mega auction.
With Rishabh Pant fetching a record ₹27 crore at last year’s mega auction, the effective cap for international players in this auction will be ₹18 crore. Any bid exceeding that limit will be collected by the BCCI and channelled into its player development programme.
This marks the third consecutive year the IPL auction is being held outside India, following Dubai in 2024 and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which hosted the 2025 mega auction.
Fans in India can watch the IPL 2026 auction live on the JioHotstar app and website, with television coverage available on the Star Sports Network worldwide. (Newswire)
