IPL 2026 Mini Auction: Full Preview, Squads & Key Updates

The IPL 2026 mini-auction is set to take place in Abu Dhabi on December 16, with all 10 franchises looking to strengthen their squads ahead of the new season. A total of 77 slots are available, with teams collectively holding a purse of ₹237.55 crore and a pool of 359 players to choose from.

Big Purse Watch Ahead of IPL 2026 Auction

After the retention deadline on November 15, franchises now enter the auction with sharply contrasting budgets.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) lead the charts with ₹64.30 crore available for 13 slots, while Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have ₹43.40 crore to fill nine slots. On the other end of the spectrum, Mumbai Indians (MI) head into the auction with just ₹2.75 crore, leaving them little room for major additions.

Major Trades Before IPL 2026 Mini Auction

The trading window witnessed several headline-grabbing moves that reshaped team combinations.

Sanju Samson emerged as the biggest traded player, joining Chennai Super Kings. Ravindra Jadeja moved to the Rajasthan Royals as part of the same deal. Meanwhile, Nitish Rana was traded to the Delhi Capitals, and Shardul Thakur joined the Mumbai Indians from the Lucknow Super Giants.

IPL 2026 Squads Before the Mini Auction

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Players: Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Nathan Ellis, Mukesh Choudhary, Shreyas Gopal, Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Ramakrishna Gosh

Mumbai Indians (MI)

Players: Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Tilak Varma, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton, Robin Minz, Naman Dhir, Corbin Bosch, Allah Ghafanzar, Ashwani Kumar, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)

Players: Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Ajinkya Rahane, Rovman Powell, Umran Malik, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)

Players: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Tim David, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Nuwan Thushara, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Rasikh Salam, Suyash Sharma, Abhinandan Singh

Punjab Kings (PBKS)

Players: Shreyas Iyer, Marcus Stoinis, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, Azmatullah Omarzai, Nehal Wadhera, Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harnoor Pannu, Musheer Khan, Vishnu Vinod, Priyansh Arya, Mitchell Owen, Xavier Bartlett, Yash Thakur, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Pyla Avinash, Suryansh Shedge

Gujarat Titans (GT)

Players: Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan, Jos Buttler, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Sai Sudharsan, Rahul Tewatia, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Prasidh Krishna, Sai Kishore, Ishant Sharma, Jayant Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Nishant Sindhu, Anuj Rawat, Kumar Kushagra, Manav Suthar, Arshad Khan, Gurnoor Brar

Rajasthan Royals (RR)

Players: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Nandre Burger, Kwena Maphaka, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Lhuan-dre Pretorius

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)

Players: Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen, Ishan Kishan, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Brydon Carse, Kamindu Mendis, Aniket Verma, R. Smaran, Harsh Dubey, Eshan Malinga, Zeeshan Ansari

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG)

Players: Rishabh Pant, Nicholas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram, Mohammed Shami, Mayank Yadav, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, Matthew Breetzke, Himmat Singh, Arshin Kulkarni, Digvesh Rathi, M. Siddharth, Prince Yadav, Akash Singh, Arjun Tendulkar

Delhi Capitals (DC)

Players: KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Nitish Rana, T. Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Dushmantha Chameera, Sameer Rizvi, Karun Nair, Abishek Porel, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Madhav Tiwari, Tripurana Vijay, Ajay Mandal

What to Expect from the IPL 2026 Mini Auction

With teams carrying either huge war chests or tight budgets, the IPL 2026 mini-auction promises intense bidding wars, smart bargains, and a few surprise moves. All eyes will be on December 16 in Abu Dhabi, where crucial decisions could define the course of the upcoming IPL season.