As the Indian Test players are involved in the home series against the West Indies, and the white-ball stars prepare for the upcoming tour of Australia, the BCCI is close to finalizing their plans for this yearâ€s IPL auction.
The IPL 2026 auction will be a mini-auction. The last mega auction took place last year, ahead of the IPL 2025 season. Hence, there will be no major overhaul in most franchises, except for the likes of Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings, who occupied the last two positions in the points table in IPL 2025.
The Rajat Patidar-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their maiden IPL title in IPL 2025, ending a wait of 18 years. RCB will enter the IPL 2026 season as defending champions.
Coming to the auction news, information has been learned that outlines the dates of the IPL 2026 mini-auction, as well as the retention deadline.
When is the IPL 2026 auction?
According to a report in Cricbuzz, the IPL 2026 auction, which will be a mini-auction, will be held in mid-December, with December 13-15 being the likeliest dates.
Also, interestingly, the IPL Governing Council is reportedly mulling over hosting the auction this year in India, whereas the auctions in the last two years were held overseas—Dubai in 2023 and Saudi Arabia in 2024.
When is the retention announcement deadline date?
The BCCI has set November 15 as the deadline for the franchises to announce the list of their retained and released players for the IPL 2026 auction.
With this being a mini-auction, franchises can retain as many players as they wish, given the capacity of eight maximum overseas players.
Some big names set to be released ft. Mitchell Starc, Venkatesh Iyer – Reports
It is widely believed that the Kolkata Knight Riders might release Venkatesh Iyer—the all-rounder whom the franchise repurchased in the IPL 2025 mega auction for a whopping INR 23.75 crore—and look to buy him back for a much cheaper price.
In IPL 2025, Venkatesh managed to score only 142 runs in 11 games at an average of 20 and a strike rate of 139; he didnâ€t bowl at all last season.
The wholesale of releases are set to come from CSK and RR as they look to improve their squads after the poor performances in IPL 2025. R Ashwin has retired, freeing up INR 9.75 crore from CSKâ€s purse. The five-time champions are likely to let go of Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Sam Curran, and Devon Conway.
But the headlining release could potentially be of Sanju Samson, the RR captain. Samson has reportedly asked the RR to either trade him off or release him in the auction pool.
Mitchell Starc, T Natarajan, Mayank Yadav, David Miller, and Akash Deep are other internationals who are expected to be released.
Meanwhile, Australian all-rounder Cameron Green is set to bring the roof down in the auction if he enters it. Green pulled out of the last IPL season owing to an injury. Given his all-round abilities, age, and high ceiling as a cricketer, Green could become the most expensive purchase in the IPL 2026 auction.
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