IPL 2026 Mega Auction: Ahead of the IPL 2026 mini-auction, the BCCI has made a major decision, significantly shortening the list of players for the upcoming IPL 2026. Instead of 1,390 players, now only 350 players will now be included in the auction. This means that approximately 75% of the players have been dropped from the list. The new list was prepared after meetings with all the franchises and includes 35 players who have been added to the auction list as ‘wild card entries’ and were not present in the previous official list for the auction.
IPL 2026 Mega Auction
The BCCI officially informed the franchises on Monday night that the IPL 2026 mini-auction will be held on December 16th at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The auction will begin at 2:30 PM Indian Standard Time.
IPL 2026 Auction: Quinton de Kock Makes A Comeback
The most talked-about wild card entry is of South African star wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock. Despite not being on the initial list, a franchise nominated him, and now he has been included in the auction list as a wicketkeeper-batsman. His recent century in Visakhapatnam after his return to international cricket has likely caught the attention of the franchises again.
De Kock will enter the auction with a base price of ₹1 crore, which is half of his base price in the previous auction. In the last auction, KKR bought him for ₹2 crore but released him after a disappointing season.
IPL 2026 Mega Auction: New Foreign & Indian Faces Included
The updated list includes several new foreign players, most notably Sri Lanka’s Traveen Mathew, Binura Fernando, Kusal Perera, and Dunith Wellalage. Afghanistan’s Arab Gul and West Indies’ Akeem Auguste are also part of the auction pool for the first time. More than 20 Indian players from domestic cricket, including Vishnu Solanki, Parikshit Valsangkar, Sadeq Hussain, and Ijaz Savariya, have been included as ‘wild card’ entries.
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