Even though it is a mini auction devoid of marquee superstars, the IPL 2026 players auction in Abu Dhabi on December 16 could witness some intense, high-voltage bidding wars.
Most teams have their cores locked in, but a few led by the Kolkata Knight Riders, who have pressed the reset button, will dominate the action at the auction armed with a massive Rs 64.30 crore kitty.
Five-time champions Chennai Super Kings, hurt by missing the play-offs last season and the shock release of Ravindra Jadeja, will also target some statement signings with Rs 43.40 crore in hand.
350 players are in the pool, but only 77 slots, including 31 overseas, are up for grabs. Expect some fireworks for the highly-rated Cameron Green along with Quinton de Kock, Matheesha Pathirana, Venkatesh Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi.
Forgotten stars like Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan will also fight for a second chance at the auction.
Here is who each team is likely to chase:
Kolkata Knight Riders
Purse Remaining: Rs 64.30 crore
Slot remaining: 13
Retained Players: Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sunil Narine, Umran Malik, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Three-time champions KKR have gone in for a complete reset after last season's horror showing when they finished eighth -- managing just five wins from 14 games.
KKR, boasting of the highest auction purse with Rs 64.30 crore in the kitty, will definitely be the busiest at the auction as they will look to fill most of their 13 slots available, including six overseas.
Venkatesh Iyer, who was signed on last year for Rs 23.75 crore, has been released, while star all-rounder Andre Russell, who was retained at Rs 12 crore ahead of IPL 2025, has announced his retirement and taken up a coaching role at KKR. Anrich Nortje, Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock and Rahmanullah Gurbaz are the other overseas players who were released.
KKR will look to buy back Iyer at the auction for a much lesser amount than last year as he starts with a base price of Rs 2 crore.
But their prime target will be Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, as they seek a capable replacement for Russell. Green not only bolsters the batting line-up, he can also double up as a frontline seamer.
KKR will also be on the lookout for a top wicket-keeper-batter after releasing Gurbaz and de Kock.
De Kock, who was in good form during the India ODI series, could be high on KKR's wishlist. Alternatively, they could look to buy experienced glovesmen like England's Jonny Bairstow or New Zealand's Tim Seifert, both capable with the bat in T20 cricket. England's Jamie Smith, known for his big-hitting abilities, is another interesting option.
KKR won't definitely miss out on Sri Lanka's young pace star Matheesha Pathirana whom CSK surprisingly released.
In a bid to bolster their batting, KKR Could target experienced IPL players like Devon Conway, Prithvi Shaw, Sarfaraz Khan, David Miller, Shai Hope and Daryl Mitchell.
Chennai Super Kings
Purse Remaining: Rs 43.40 crore
Slot remaining: 9
Retained Players: Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Ayush Mhatre, Dewald Brevis, M S Dhoni, Urvil Patel, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Nathan Ellis, Shreyas Gopal, Mukesh Choudhary
CSK lost some big stars after IPL 2025. Ravindra Jadeja was traded to the Rajasthan Royals along with Sam Curran enabling Sanju Samson to sign up for CSK.
Ravichandran Ashwin announced his retirement as CSK released overseas stars Devon Conway, Rachin Ravindra and Matheesha Pathirana.
CSK's batting line-up looks quite solid featuring Ruturaj Gaikwad, Samson, Shivam Dube, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Dewald Brevis along with youngsters Ayush Mhatre and Urvil Patel.
However, their bowling has weakened considerably after Jadeja and Pathirana's departures.
With Rs 43.40 in hand, CSK will go head to head with KKR for Cameron Green and Venkatesh Iyer.
They could also target England's spin all-rounder Liam Livingstone. Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi will also be high on their list to strengthen their spin department which includes Noor Ahmad and Shreyas Gopal.
CSK must buy back Pathirana as their pace attack doesn't look that menacing. Nathan Ellis and Jamie Overton are the only two overseas pacers in the squad while Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary are the domestic seamers.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Purse Remaining: Rs 25.5 crore
Slot remaining: 10
Retained Players: Pat Cummins (Captain), Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aniket Verma, Ravichandran Smaran, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Kamindu Mendis, Harshal Patel, Brydon Carse, Jaydev Unadkat, Eshan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari.
SRH are operating on a tight budget with Rs 25.5 crore remaining and room to buy 10 players, including six overseas.
SRH have kept their core from last season including captain Pat Cummins. They boast the most power-packed batting line-up including T20 big-hitters Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen and Ishan Kishan.
Their all-rounder department is also well stacked including Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kamindu Mendis and Harsh Dubey.
However, their bowling department needs rebuilding after they traded Mohammed Shami to the Lucknow Super Giants and released spinners Adam Zampa and Rahul Chahar.
SRH may target Ravi Bishnoi or Wanindu Hasaranga to bolster their spin attack, while Gerald Coetzee, Akash Deep and Matheesha Pathirana could be their targets among the pacers.
Lucknow Super Giants
Purse Remaining: Rs 22.95 crore
Slot remaining: 6
Retained Players: Rishabh Pant (Captain), Abdul Samad, Ayush Badoni, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Breetzke, Nicholas Pooran, Himmat Singh, Shahbaz Ahmed, Arshin Kulkarni, Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Digvesh Rathi, M Siddharth, Prince Yadav, Akash Singh
LSG retained a majority of their squad while bringing in Arjun Tendulkar in a trade deal from the Mumbai Indians.
Their batting looks good with Rishabh Pant, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran in the ranks.
They have good options in the pace department in Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan and Mohsin Khan while Digvesh Rathi was among the breakthrough stars of IPL 2025.
They need to strengthen their spin department by going after Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Rahul Chahar or Mujeeb Rahman.
They would be tempted to go after Matheesha Pathirana at the right price or could also look towards the extra pace of Anrich Nortje, who will come much cheaper.
Delhi Capitals
Purse Remaining: Rs 21.80 crore
Slot remaining: 8
Retained Players: Axar Patel (Captain), K L Rahul, Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair, Abishek Porel, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Tripurana Vijay, Ajay Mandal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera
Delhi Capitals will look to sign up a few overseas players mainly top order batters after releasing Faf du Plessis and Jake Fraser-McGurk.
They will could eye Venkatesh Iyer if his price doesn't shoot up high or they could try for other options like Mayank Agarwal or Rachin Ravindra, while David Miller could be a good option for the middle order.
The pace department led by Mitchell Starc is well stacked up with spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Viprag Nigam for company. Matheesha Pathirana would be a luxury but he looks to be too costly for their pocket but there are other good options like Gerald Coetzee or their former pacer Anrich Nortje.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Purse Remaining: Rs 16.40 crore
Slot remaining: 8
Retained Players: Rajat Patidar (Captain), Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Nuwan Thushara, Rasikh Salam, Abhinandan Singh, Suyash Sharma.
As expected, RCB retained a majority of the squad which won their maiden IPL title last year.
The team is well balanced in all departments but they would still like to add some firepower to their pace attack. Anrich Nortje or Matheesha Pathirana could be possible options or they could target Jammu and Kashmir's Auqib Nabi -- a rising pacer making waves in domestic cricket.
Having released Liam Livingstone, RCB will also want to add a proven spinner in their ranks and could target someone like Wanindu Hasaranga or Ravi Bishnoi provided the bidding doesn't go beyond Rs 7 crore to Rs 8 crore mark.
It will be interesting to see if RCB could have another crack at Venkatesh Iyer, whom they narrowly missed out last year in a bidding contest with KKR, who paid a hefty Rs 23.75 crore to retain him.
Rajasthan Royals
Purse Remaining: Rs 16.05 crore
Slot remaining: 9
Retained Players: Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dhruv Jurel, Jofra Archer, Kwena Maphaka, Lhuan-Dre Pretorius, Nandre Burger, Riyan Parag, Sandeep Sharma, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yudhvir Singh.
RR were beneficiaries of the trading window ahead of the auction. They gave in to Sanju Samson's request to leave but profited by bagging two big stars in return -- CSK's talismanic all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran.
They also traded Donovan Ferreira from Delhi Capitals, a powerful lower order batter and a handy part-time spinner.
The Royals, with Rs 16.05 crore in hand, will be in the hunt for a top spinner like Ravi Bishnoi to partner Jadeja after they released Wanindu Hasaranga and Mahesh Theekshana. They could also try for Rachin Ravindra to provide cover in the batting department.
Gujarat Titans
Purse Remaining: Rs 12.90 crore
Slot remaining: 5
Retained Players: Shubman Gill (captain), Rashid Khan, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Shahrukh Khan, Kagiso Rabada, Jos Buttler, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Nishant Sindhu, Kumar Kushagra, Anuj Rawat, Manav Suthar, Washington Sundar, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar, Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Glenn Phillips.
GT will be disappointed not to have gone all the way last season as they sorely missed Jos Buttler in the Eliminator game against the Mumbai Indians.
They boast of one of the most complete squads ahead of the auction with quality players in each department and an equally strong bench strength.
But one area where they need a reinforcement is a big-hitting batter for the death overs, a role which Sherfane Rutherford played last season. They could target someone like David Miller, a proven performer in the IPL.
New Zealand's spin all-rounder Michael Bracewell could be a good fit for the Titans. Among the Indian players GT may look at Sarfaraz Khan or Rahul Tripathi.
Punjab Kings
Purse Remaining: Rs 11.50 crore
Slot remaining: 4
Retained Players: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Arshdeep Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harnoor Pannu, Harpreet Brar, Lockie Ferguson, Marco Jansen, Marcus Stoinis, Mitch Owen, Musheer Khan, Nehal Wadhera, Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Shashank Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal
Punjab have opted to retain nearly 90 percent of their team, retaining as many as 21 players -- after making it to the final last year.
The Australian duo of Glenn Maxwell and Josh Inglis were shock releases but Head Coach Ricky Ponting looks determined to reward his performers from last season.
Punjab will most likely target a few young Indian talents -- mainly a lower order batter, a back-up wicket-keeper and a good pace bowler to ensure some depth in the bench strength and also cover for injuries.
Mumbai Indians
Purse Remaining: Rs 2.75 crore
Slot remaining: 5
Retained Players: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Naman Dhir, Raj Angad Bawa, Ashwani Kumar, Robin Minz, Raghu Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Corbin Bosch, Will Jacks, Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, Allah Ghazanfar.
MI executed some good trades in the trading window. They brought in experienced all-rounder Shardul Thakur from Lucknow Super Giants while Arjun Tendulkar went the other way.
They also shored up their middle order by bringing in Sherfane Rutherford from the Gujarat Titans.
MI will look for some bargain buys in the spin department and could target Mujeeb ur Rahman, Vignesh Puthur and Karn Sharma.
Photographs: BCCI
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