Kolkata Knight Riders snapped both Matheesha Pathirana for ₹18 crore and Cameron Green for ₹25.20 crore during the IPL mini-auction held in Abu Dhabi on December 16, 2025
| Photo Credit: PTI

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming. “I just wonder if we are now seeing the true product of T20 cricket coming to the fore,” said Stephen Fleming. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Cameron Green, Liam Livingstone, Ravi Bishnoi, Venkatesh Iyer, and Matheesha Pathirana are among the 45 players who have entered the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction with the highest base price of ₹2 crore, according to a report in ESPNcricinfo.

In all, 1,355 players have registered for the auction and shared with the franchises on Monday after registrations closed on November 30. With each franchise allowed a maximum squad of 25, and 77 slots are available this year, including 31 for overseas players.

The IPL will trim this list after receiving the wishlists from all ten teams. Franchises have been given time until December 5 to submit their shortlist, ahead of the day-long auction in Abu Dhabi on December 16.

CSK, KKR with spending power

Among the Indian players, specialists in key roles could attract big bids, but the spotlight is firmly on Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, who had skipped the 2025 mega-auction due to a back injury. Teams expected to show strong interest include Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) (₹64.3 crore purse) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) (₹43.4 crore), both having healthy budgets.

KKR, in particular, could aggressively pursue Green, especially after the recent IPL retirement of West Indies T20 legend Andre Russell. Green’s versatility, he can bat anywhere in the order, bowl seam-ups, and contribute heavily in the field, makes him one of the most sought-after names this year.

KKR released nine players, including Venkatesh Iyer, who cost them a massive ₹23.5 crore at last year’s mega-auction. They now have 12 slots to fill, including six overseas. CSK, the five-time champions, have nine vacancies, four of which are for overseas players.

Players who were released

Several players released ahead of this auction have chosen the top price bracket of ₹2 crore. This includes Sri Lanka pacer Matheesha Pathirana, whom CSK had retained for ₹13 crore last year but released after his struggles with injury, despite his value as a death-overs specialist.

England all-rounder Liam Livingstone, bought by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for ₹8.75 crore, also finds himself back in the pool after an underwhelming season.

Among Indian players, Venkatesh Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi have both listed themselves at the ₹2 crore base price. Bishnoi, retained by Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for ₹11 crore last year, was let go after spending four seasons with the franchise.

Maxwell missing

A notable omission from the long list is Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell. Punjab Kings (PBKS) had picked him up for ₹4.2 crore last season, but Maxwell, now 37, fractured his finger midway through the 2025 campaign and was replaced by fellow Australian allrounder Mitchell Owen, who has been retained.

Another surprise entry back in the auction is PBKS’ wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis, who played a key role in their run to the final. However, the IPL notified that he would only be available for 25% of the 2026 season due to personal reasons.

Players with ₹2 crore base price

Ravi Bishnoi, Venkatesh Iyer, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen ul Haq, Sean Abott, Ashton Agar, Cooper Connolly, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, Steve Smith, Mustafizur Rahman, Gus Atkinson, Tom Banton, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Liam Livingstone, Tymal Mills, Jamie Smith, Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Adam Milne, Daryll Mitchell, Will O’Rourke, Rachin Ravindra, Gerald Coetzee, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Rilee Roussouw, Tabraiz Shamsi, David Wiese, Wanindu Hasaranga, Mateesha Pathirana, Maheesh Theekshana, Jason Holder, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein and Alzarri Joseph.

Published – December 02, 2025 12:20 pm IST

“Dan will complete the final preparation for the first Test before attending the IPL auction. He will then be with the team for the remainder of the Border Gavaskar Trophy,” said a spokesperson for the Australian team.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Australia’s assistant coach Daniel Vettori will be leaving his duties midway through the opening Test against India in Perth to attend the IPL mega auction over the weekend.

The IPL auction will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on November 24-25, clashing with the Perth Test scheduled for November 22, 2024.

Besides being Australia’s assistant coach, the 45-year-old is also the head coach of IPL franchise SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).

“We are very supportive of Dan’s role as Head Coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad. Dan will complete the final preparation for the first Test before attending the IPL auction. He will then be with the team for the remainder of the Border Gavaskar Trophy,” a spokesperson for the Australian team told ESPNcricinfo.

Cricket Australia’s (CA) national development coach Lachlan Stevens will be filling in for Vettori during the Perth Test.

Besides the New Zealander, Ricky Ponting and Justin Langer will also be missing out on commentary duties for Channel Seven due to the IPL auction, as they happen to be head coaches of Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants, respectively.

General view during day two of the TATA Indian Premier League Player Auction held at the ITC Gardenia hotel in Bengaluru on the 13th February 2022

Photo by Arjun Singh / Sportzpics for IPL
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement

The Indian Premier League’s high-profile auction will be held in the Saudi Arabian capital city of Riyadh in the last week of this month, sources in the BCCI confirmed on Monday (November 4, 2024).

“The IPL auctions will be held in Riyadh and it has been notified to the franchises. The likely dates are November 24 and 25,” a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

This year’s auction is a mega one with high profile India stars like Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Arshdeep Singh are going to go under the hammer.

The 10 franchises will collectively have around ₹641.5 crore to spend for 204 available slots. Out of those 204 slots, 70 are earmarked for overseas players.

As of now, 46 players have been retained by the 10 franchises with cumulative expenditure of ₹558.5 crore.

File picture of Delhi Capitals player Rishabh Pant
| Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar

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Star India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will take part in the upcoming mega auction ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 after not being retained by Delhi Capitals (DC), according to ESPNcricinfo.

The report stated that the talks between the owners of the Delhi-based franchise and Pant have failed after it stretched for almost past few months.

As per ESPNcricinfo, Delhi Capitals have retained Indian spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, South Africa batter Tristan Stubbs and uncapped Indian wicketkeeper-batter Abishek Porel.

After retaining three capped and one uncapped players, DC will be left with ₹73 crore with which they will build their squad at the upcoming mega auction.

The 27-year-old Pant joined the Delhi-based franchise in 2016 and started leading the Capitals in 2021.

In 2020, Delhi Capitals reached their first-ever final under Shreyas Iyer. However, in the last season, they narrowly missed the playoffs based on net run rate, with seven wins, seven losses, and a total of 14 points.

Axar Patel appeared in 14 matches in IPL 2024 and scored 235 runs at a strike rate of 131.28. He also picked up 11 wickets at an economy rate of 24.00. Tristan Stubbs also played in 14 matches in IPL 2024 and scored 378 runs at a strike rate of 190.91.

In IPL 2024, Kuldeep Yadav played 11 matches and managed to get 16 wickets at an economy rate of 8.70. On the other hand, uncapped player Abhishek Porel took part in 14 matches for the Delhi-based franchise and scored 327 runs at a strike rate of 159.51.

Earlier in the month, former Indian cricketers Hemang Badani and Venugopal Rao joined the coaching staff of Delhi Capitals as head coach and director of cricket, respectively, ahead of the next season of the IPL.

Meanwhile, cricketing icon and one of India’s most successful captains, Sourav Ganguly has been named as Director of Cricket for JSW Sports.