IPL 2026 auction ultimate guide in 10 points:Only 77 vacant slots, all 10 teams have a combined purse of 237.55 crores

The mini-auction for the 19th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will begin tomorrow at 2:30 PM in Abu Dhabi. 10 teams have a purse of Rs 237.55 crore. 350 players will participate in the auction, but only 77 will be sold, as there are only that many vacant spots in the teams. The base price for 40 players is the highest at Rs 2 crore, while the base price for 227 players is the lowest at Rs 30 lakh. In IPL mini-auctions, teams often spend a lot of money on some players. Historically, there have been 6 players whom teams bought for more than Rs 16 crore. Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant, the most expensive player in auction history, was sold in last year’s mega auction. He was bought by Lucknow Super Giants for Rs 27 crore. Everything about the IPL Auction in 10 points… 1. Where and when will the auction take place? The IPL mini-auction will start at 2:30 PM in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The auction will run for a single day on December 16. 2. How many players will enter the auction? 1390 players from around the world had registered for the auction. However, teams selected only a few of these players and showed interest in buying them. Therefore, before the auction, BCCI shortlisted the top 350 players. Only their names will appear in tomorrow’s auction. 3. Which team has the most vacant slots? Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has the most vacant slots, with 13 players. The team retained only 12 players and will buy 6 foreign players in the auction. Punjab Kings (PBKS) has the fewest slots, with only 4 players, as the previous runner-up team retained 21 players. A team can include 22 to 25 players. After Punjab, Mumbai Indians (MI) and Gujarat Titans (GT) have 5-5 vacant slots each. 4. Which team has the biggest purse? KKR, who retained the fewest players, has the biggest purse; the team will come into the auction with Rs 64.30 crore. After them, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has Rs 43.40 crore in their purse. MI has the least, Rs 2.75 crore, in their purse. RCB, RR, PBKS, and GT have Rs 11 to 17 crore in their purse. While DC, LSG, and SRH have Rs 21 to 26 crore in their purse. 5. How many players were retained? 10 teams retained 173 players, of which 45 are foreign. 10 teams can include 250 players, of which 80 should be foreign. This means there are 77 vacant spots in the auction, but 25 of these slots are for foreign players. Thus, only 52 Indian players will be able to be sold. 6. How many players were traded before the auction? After the IPL season ends, the player trading window begins, which remains open until one month before the auction. In this trading window, teams exchanged 8 players. Among these, the 3 biggest names were Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja, and Mohammed Shami. Samson became part of Chennai from Rajasthan, Jadeja from Chennai to Rajasthan, and Shami from Hyderabad to Lucknow. 7. What is the base price of players? In the auction, the base price of players ranges from 30 lakh rupees to 2 crore rupees. Base price means the price at which a player’s bidding starts. This time, 40 players have the highest base price of 2 crore rupees. The base price of 30 players is between 1 to 1.50 crore rupees. Meanwhile, the starting price of 228 players is between 30 to 75 lakh rupees. 8. Will all players’ names be called? No. The names of 34 players from the initial 5 sets will be called out slowly, giving teams more time to buy them. As soon as the names of uncapped players come up, the auction speed will be increased. After more than 50 players are sold, teams will be asked for the names of some players, and these players will then be bid on in the auction. This is called the Accelerated Round. As soon as 77 players are sold, the auction will end. After this, the remaining players will remain unsold without their names being called. 9. Which players can surprise? This time, not many big names are participating in the IPL mini-auction. Veterans like Andre Russell, Glenn Maxwell, Faf du Plessis, and Moeen Ali have not registered. In such a situation, big bids can only be placed on Australia’s young Cameron Green, Sri Lanka’s Matheesha Pathirana, India’s Ravi Bishnoi, England’s Jamie Smith, and the out-of-form Liam Livingstone. Bids for some players who play domestic cricket in India might also be surprising. Among them, Jammu and Kashmir’s fast bowler Aaqib Nabi is being discussed the most. Besides him, teams might also spend a large sum on spinners Prashant Veer, Shivam Shukla, fast bowler Ashok Sharma, Krans Fuletra, and wicketkeeper Kartik Sharma. 10. Who is the most expensive player in the mini-auction? In the IPL mini-auction, bids for many players often break previous records. So far, 6 players have been sold for more than 16 crore rupees in the mini-auction. Among them, bids for Australia’s Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins have even crossed 20 crore rupees.