🏏IPL 2026 Mega Auction: The Battle for Cricket’s Brightest Stars🌟 - Page 2

Which role is the costliest in the IPL 2026 auction list? Here are the numbers

IPL Auction LIVE: The full 369-player shortlist has finally thrown up a fascinating trend: wicketkeepers are the most expensive role on average in this year’s auction. When you break the pool down by roles and compute the mean base price, keepers top the chart at INR 74.2 lakh, driven by a high-value capped group that includes Bairstow, Inglis, De Kock and Duckett.

Fast bowlers sit just behind at INR 72.2 lakh, which isn’t surprising in a league where pace is currency. Names like Nortje, Pathirana, Coetzee, Mustafizur and Jamieson ensure that the fast-bowling sets start at a higher baseline than almost every other skill category.

Batters (INR 57.2 lakh) and all-rounders (INR 56.9 lakh) form the mid-pack — a reflection of how the capped stars lift the top end, while a massive uncapped pool at INR 30 lakh pulls the average back down.

The cheapest group on average? Spinners at INR 53.1 lakh. Even though Bishnoi, Mujeeb and Theekshana headline the spin sets, the sheer volume of INR 30 lakh uncapped spinners keeps the mean price the lowest among all roles.

It’s a reminder that teams still pay a premium for keepers and fast bowlers, while the depth in spin and all-round options keeps those categories more budget-friendly.

Indians vs overseas, two completely different price worlds

IPL Auction LIVE: The 359-player shortlist is effectively running two parallel economies. Indians dominate the volume: 244 out of 359 players – about 68 per cent – are Indian, with the remaining 115 (32%) coming from overseas or Associate teams. Yet almost all of that Indian presence is stacked at the bottom of the ladder. A massive 234 players – around 65% of the entire pool – have listed at the minimum INR 30 lakh base, and that band is overwhelmingly uncapped Indian-heavy.

The picture flips at the top. The INR 2 crore bracket has just 40 names (11 per cent of the pool), but 38 of them are overseas, and only two are Indian – Venkatesh Iyer and Ravi Bishnoi. That means 95 per cent of the top band is foreign, and roughly one in three overseas players (about 33 per cent) has entered at the maximum base price. Across all bands from INR 75 lakh upwards, there are 114 capped players in total (around 32 per cent of the pool), but only 16 of those are Indians – barely 4.5 per cent of the entire shortlist.

So on auction day, teams aren’t just juggling roles. They’re stitching together a squad from one Indian-heavy bargain basement and a much smaller, overseas-dominated luxury shelf, with very little capped Indian experience bridging the gap.

: Where have the capped Indians actually priced themselves?

IPL Auction LIVE: For all the noise about capped Indian experience, the shortlist quietly shows how small that group really is. Out of 359 players, there are only 16 capped Indians in the entire pool – and every single one of them has been listed at INR 75 lakh or higher. Just two have gone to the maximum INR 2 crore bracket, one more sits at INR 1.5 crore, another two at INR 1 crore, and the remaining 11 are clustered at INR 75 lakh. No capped Indian has taken the ego hit of dropping into the INR 50 lakh or INR 30 lakh floor.

It underlines why capped Indian slots feel so expensive every year: the supply is tiny, and nobody in that category is willing to sell themselves as a bargain. Teams looking for tested Indian options essentially have a pool of sixteen names to work with, spread across only three meaningful price bands. Once a couple of bidding wars push the top-tier players beyond comfort, the entire market for capped Indians can tilt in a single hour.

With Rs 237.55 crore in purse, 10 teams aim to fill key squad gapsIPL Auction 2026 Live Updates: Cameron Green could well emerge as the biggest beneficiary of the IPL mini-auction’s skewed demand-supply dynamics, particularly around seam-bowling all-rounders, when franchises gather today. With 77 slots to be filled and a cumulative purse of Rs 237.55 crore, teams with money to spend are expected to dictate the tempo, while those with lean purses will largely play a waiting game. Mumbai Indians, armed with just Rs 2.75 crore, will have little role beyond picking up a couple of uncapped players at base price.

At the centre of the spotlight is Green, alongside out-of-favour India all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer and England’s explosive Liam Livingstone. Pace-bowling all-rounders are a rare commodity in the T20 ecosystem, and that scarcity almost guarantees a bidding war. Kolkata Knight Riders, with a massive purse of Rs 64.30 crore and 13 slots to fill as part of a rebuild, appear best placed to go hard. Chennai Super Kings, entering with Rs 43.40 crore, are the only franchise capable of matching KKR bid for bid.

Mini-auctions, by nature, are more intriguing than mega auctions. Franchises arrive with targeted shopping lists and are often willing to stretch logic to secure players with specific skill sets. That is why Green’s relatively modest IPL record — 704 runs and 16 wickets from 29 matches — may not matter much. As an Australian all-format regular who can bat in the top order and bowl seam, he fits a high-demand bracket.

Venkatesh Iyer’s case is equally fascinating. His Rs 23.75 crore price tag last season raised eyebrows, and he endured his worst IPL campaign under that weight of expectation. With no Right To Match (RTM) card in play, KKR will need to be decisive if they want him back, even as a bid beyond Rs 10 crore would now be considered fair value.

West Indies’ Jason Holder, the third member of the pace all-rounder trio, may not generate the same buzz but offers reliability with both bat and ball — a valuable asset in a smaller auction pool. Beyond them, Livingstone and Quinton de Kock are expected to attract strong interest, while fast bowlers like Matheesha Pathirana and Jacob Duffy, along with in-form uncapped Indian Ashok Sharma, add further layers of intrigue to a tightly contested auction day.

Could Cam Green Break Pant's Record?

With major hype being built around Cameron Green as the creme de la creme of this auction, it will be interesting to see if any of the teams manage to break the bank and claim a new record-breaking bid for a single player.

(Rishabh Pant — who currently reigns as the most expensive player in IPL history — was signed for Rs 27 crore by Lucknow Super Giants in the mega auction last year)

IPL 2026 Auction: Full Team Squads

Three-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders will enter the auction with a purse of Rs 64.30 crore, and they can sign as many as 13 players. The Shah Rukh Khan-owned side have six overseas slots available, and they are expected to go to secure the services of Australian all-rounder Cameron Green and Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana.

Five-time champions Chennai Super Kings are also looking for a major overhaul after finishing at the bottom of the points table for the first time in the 2025 edition. They have a purse of Rs 43.40 crore and have a total of nine slots available. Their first priority will be to sign Pathirana back, and in addition to him, they will also look to find a long-term replacement for Ravindra Jadeja.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants also have more than Rs 20 crore in their kitty, whereas five-time champions Mumbai Indians only have Rs 2.75 crore.

Second Time's The Charm? Matt Short Hopes So

Former PBKS batter Matthew Short turned 30 last month, and after a frustrating, injury-hit year, he believes the timing is finally right for the next step in his career.

And he believes that the next step could come at Tuesday’s IPL auction.

Thanks for the tag Madhu. May every team gets the players they want.

Cheers..

IPL 2026 dates confirmed! The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 will be staged from Thursday, March 26 to Sunday, May 31, with the dates emerging from a meeting between franchise officials and IPL authorities in Abu Dhabi on Monday evening, as per a Cricbuzz report