The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 mini-auction is scheduled on December 16 in Abu Dhabi. This year marks the third year in a row that the IPL auction will take place abroad.
Prior to IPL 2024, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, held a mini-auction. The 2025 mega-auction, meantime, took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and ended after two days.
By 3 pm IST on November 15, franchises must first sort the list of players from their squads from the previous season that they wish to keep and release. A registered pool of players will then be supplied to them for shortlisting. After that, the lengthy list will be trimmed for the IPL in order to finalise the auction pool.
It’s crucial to remember that the trading window opened following the league’s 2025 edition. A week prior to the auction, it will resume, and it will continue till one month before the IPL 2026 season begins. A player purchased at the 2026 auction, however, cannot be traded by any of the ten organisations.
As of this now, only two deals have been formally announced. The Mumbai Indians have acquired seasoned India all-rounder Shardul Thakur from the Lucknow Super Giants for INR 2 lakh. Sherfane Rutherford of the Gujarat Titans, a West Indies batsman, was also acquired by the five-time champions for INR 2.6 crore.
It is anticipated that more player trades and swaps will be revealed in the coming days. The Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings are anticipated to make one of the most significant announcements. In return for Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran are reportedly going to the inaugural champions. Fans are eagerly awaiting the November 15 announcement of which players will be retained and which will be discharged.
IPL 2026 is tentatively scheduled to run from March 15 to May 31. Earlier this year, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Punjab Kings to win their first-ever championship. They are currently the reigning champions.
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